SAN FRANCISCO:-  Governor Gavin Newsom today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between California and Denmark supporting cooperation on green economy resilience, technology, and innovation. Home to Silicon Valley and the world’s fourth largest economy, California is uniquely positioned to lead the international conversation and help guide the world in the responsible implementation and use of emerging technology. 

The Governor and California’s delegation met with Denmark’s delegation led by Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Ambassador of Denmark to the U.S. Jesper Møller Sørensen. California and Denmark signed the MOU at a ceremony in San Francisco.

“Denmark is committed to expanding our partnerships around the world – also with federal states like California,” said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. “We are both frontrunners within green energy, innovation, and sustainability. If we combine our efforts, we can really push forward – not only for our own economies and societies, but also by inspiring others to pursue a green transition that creates jobs and growth at the same time.”

How we got here
The Newsom administration has partnered with jurisdictions in 27 countries, touching more than a quarter of the world’s population and a combined GDP in the tens of trillions of dollars.

California’s climate leadership
Pollution is down and the economy is up. Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20% since 2000 – even as the state’s GDP increased 78% in that same time period.

The state also continues to set clean energy records. California was powered by two-thirds clean energy in 2023, the latest year for which data is available – the largest economy in the world to achieve this level of clean energy. The state has run on 100% clean electricity for some part of the day almost every day this year.

Since the beginning of the Newsom Administration, battery storage is up to over 15,000 megawatts – a 1,900%+ increase, and over 25,000 megawatts of new resources have been added to the electric grid.

Leading in technology 
AI is already changing the world, and California will play a pivotal role in defining that future. As the fourth-largest economy in the world and the birthplace of the tech industry, California continues to dominate this sector as the leader in AI. The state is home to 32 of the 50 top AI companies worldwide. In addition to championing responsible use of this emerging industry, California is harnessing its potential to increase efficiency and support state operations.

California has launched efforts to help the state take advantage of this emerging technology, while also creating responsible policy guardrails to protect Californians. In 2023, Governor Newsom signed an executive order laying out California’s measured approach to state GenAI procurement. That EO has shaped the future of ethical, transparent, and trustworthy GenAI deployment, all while California remains the world’s GenAI leader. Within state government, projects are already underway to utilize GenAI to reduce highway congestion, improve roadway safety, and enhance customer service in a state call center, among other new initiatives. And this year, a group of world-leading AI academics and experts, convened at the request of Governor Newsom,  finalized a new empirical, science-based analysis of the capabilities and attendant risks of frontier models  — which will help pave the way for the use of AI for the benefit of all Californians, and the world.

Last year, Governor Newsom also signed a series of bills to crack down on sexually explicit deepfakes and require AI watermarking, ban AI-generated child pornography, protect consumers by preventing scams from AI-generated robocalls, protect performers’ digital likenesses, and combat deepfake election content.