Nothing’s changed in the long run; California is still aiming to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. But with one marker along the way – parity with 1990 emissions by 2020 – apparently in the bag, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday set a bold new interim target: a reduction of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

“With this order, California sets a very high bar for itself and other states and nations, but it’s one that must be reached – for this generation and generations to come,” Brown said in a statement.

Brown’s predecessor, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, set the state’s drive toward dramatically lower GHG emissions in motion on September 27, 2006, when he signed Assembly Bill 32 into law. Among the tools the state has been using in its pursuit: an aggressive renewable portfolio standard (33 percent by 2020, which Brown wants to hike to 50 percent by 2030); a cap-and-trade program; strict building energy efficiency standards; and various measures in the transportation sector, including a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard and Advanced Clean Car regulations.