What you need to know: As President Trump doubles down on fossil fuels and tears down America’s economic leadership, Governor Newsom delivered remarks at the United Nations to make clear that California will keep fighting for cleaner air, clean energy, and an economy that works for the next generation.
September 24, 2026 - NEW YORK CITY – On Wednesday, as President Trump abandons America’s responsibility to confront the climate crisis and protect the strongest economy in the world, Governor Gavin Newsom took California’s leadership in front of the United Nations: the clean energy transition is already creating good-paying jobs, growing the world’s fourth-largest economy, and delivering real solutions for working families. California will move forward no matter who occupies the White House.
As the highest-ranking official from the U.S. to join the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Event on Climate Action and the Just Transition panel, Governor Newsom emphasized that California is proving climate action and economic growth can go hand in hand, while Donald Trump serves as the fossil fuel industry’s puppet.
TV stations: the full video is available here
Below is a transcript of Governor Newsom’s full remarks:
“Thank all of you for being here. Thank you for not falling prey to the cynicism — the anxiety — that I think all of us feel picking up the paper, watching TV, [and] listening to the punditry. Thank you for being the antidote to that cynicism, fear, and anxiety.
“I was here three years ago, and it felt very different [here] in the United States. You heard that speech from my president yesterday. He all but called for a genocide of 93 million people. There is nothing normal about that. There is nothing normal about this moment. I’m proud to represent, yes, the fourth-largest economy in the world, a state larger than 21 state populations combined. I’m proud to represent a state that [held] the founding [conference], in San Francisco, of the United Nations in 1945. I’m also proud to represent a state that’s 27% foreign-born, where we practice pluralism. We don’t tolerate our diversity; we celebrate our diversity. That’s what has allowed us to become the fourth-largest economy in the world.
“But we also have this to share: We’re also the most un-Trump state in the United States of America. That’s important because there’s probably nothing more important on this topic that you’ll hear today than the imperative of ending Trump’s presidency as we know it. And that, my friends, will happen this November when the Democratic Party takes back the House of Representatives, and we finally re-instill what our founding fathers lived and died for. That’s a system of checks and balances, in the spirit of the mayor of Boston’s remarks.
“But my remarks are not just in the context of the invasive species — Donald Trump — but in the context of the work that we continue to do, despite the headwinds of people who have their heads in the sand, soaked by oil. This is not complicated. The challenge is self-evident. Some of us are as dumb as we want to be, subsidizing and doubling down on stupid. Subsidizing the very problem we’re trying to fix. It’s not complicated. It’s from burning coal, and gas, and oil. And of course, that’s what we’re doubling down [on] in the United States, but not in the state of California. That fourth-largest economy, California? Runs every day on 2/3 clean energy. In fact, so far this year, 9 out of 10 days, the fourth-largest economy in the world is run on 100% clean energy.
“We are past the what and the why. We’re past the goal setting. We’re in the great implementation. We’re in the how business. And we’re proving the paradigm that you’re not sacrificing your economic future to change the way you produce and consume energy. Quite the contrary. Why is California such a vibrant, and diverse, and entrepreneurial society? It’s because of our rules for risk-taking, not recklessness. There is no — forgive us — Elon Musk without California’s regulatory system, that created the certainty where he could make the investments that ultimately became Tesla.
“We’re proud of the entrepreneurial spirit that is at the heart of our transition to low-carbon. That’s why we refer to that green growth. Forty percent GDP growth in the state of California since 2019. No jurisdiction in America, and no democratic jurisdiction in the world, has grown faster than the state of California, as we’ve reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by double digits at the same time. Let’s disabuse ourselves that somehow this gets in the way of economic growth and economic prosperity.
“So I want to thank the mayors. I was a mayor. Once a mayor, always a mayor. Governors, with respect and love as well, I want to thank the governors. Because if you don’t like the way the world looks when you’re standing up, stand on your head and go local. The state vision and the national vision are realized locally. These are not just the dreamers; these are the doers. You’re the doers. And all around the globe, we’re inspired. It’s the power of emulation. Success leaves clues.
“I want to conclude as I began, with gratitude, respect, and appreciation for everyone who is here, not just for themselves, but in the spirit of the 10,000 generations who go back to our Creator, that count on us to meet this moment head-on, to lean in, to step up, to share not just our formal authority, but to share our moral authority, at peril of being judged not to have lived.
“All of you, thank you for all the work you’ve done to get us here, and I look forward to coming back to the United Nations with the fresh air of progress versus the stale air coming out of Washington, D.C. of normalcy. Thank you all very much.”
Source: Office of the Governor