Giving Compass' Take:

• Smithsonian Magazine reports on a new commitment by the state of California to get all the state's energy from clean power sources by the year 2045.

• With the EPA rolling back greenhouse gas regulations, can states pick up the slack? The U.S. still lags behind much of the rest of the world when it comes to carbon emissions, so any bold goal must be followed by action.

• Here's how we can understand the role of climate change in wildfires.

News about climate change has been grim this year. On Monday, Secretary-General of the U.N. warned that the nations of the world were falling behind on commitments to combat climate change, and that if things don’t improve by 2020, we risk facing a runaway climate scenario. That same day, the EPA announced plans to roll back limits on methane emissions, the third move by the current administration to de-regulate greenhouse gases this year.

But amid bad news, California leadership’s commitment to climate change action stands out. Recently, as representatives from four continents gather in San Francisco for the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, state governor Jerry Brown approved legislation mandating that all of the state’s energy come from clean power sources by 2045.

Senate Bill 100 was introduced by state senator Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and took nearly two years of wrangling before it passed both houses of the state legislature last month, Liam Dillon reports for the Los Angeles Times. Governor Brown signed it into law, as well as a carbon neutrality executive order that commits the state to removing as much carbon dioxide as it emits from the atmosphere by the same date. “California is committed to doing whatever is necessary to meet the existential threat of climate change,” the governor said during the signing ceremony. “And yes, it is an existential threat. No matter what the naysayers may say, it is a real, present danger to California and to the people of the world.”

Read the full article about California's commitment to clean energy by Jason Daley at Smithsonian.com.