In Kern County, Governor Newsom continues ‘California Jobs First’ tour at low-emissions cement plant

At National Cement, Governor Newsom toured the low-emissions plant and met with union workers and local leaders. Producing cement is known as one of the hardest industries to decarbonize, because of the heat it takes to make cement and because of the specific chemical processes involved. National Cement has worked to pivot to low-emissions operations and more sustainable cement mixes. The plant is on track to become one of the first fully decarbonized cement plants in the nation.

While at the plant, the Governor met with the Kern County Jobs First Collaborative to hear more about local economic priorities and how the region plans to continue advancing initiatives to create more good-paying jobs in climate-forward industries.

The framework for the California Jobs First Economic Blueprint unveiled last week in Fresno aims to advance the state’s robust clean economy, which reaches nearly every region in the state. The clean economy spans multiple sectors such as onshore wind, solar, and carbon management – all priority sectors in the Kern County regional plan. National Cement’s Lebec plant will also be an important part of Kern County’s clean economy in the coming years as it continues to decarbonize its operations and pursues plans to expand into carbon capture.

Key to the state’s clean economy is the clean energy sector. California now has 7 times more clean energy jobs than fossil fuel jobs – and continues to be home to the most clean energy jobs in the nation. With more than a half-million clean energy jobs in the state – twice as many as the next state, Texas – Governor Newsom is doubling down on efforts to create even more of these climate-forward jobs.