The California Air Resources Board has released an update to that plan showing how the policies are working and where to go next.
It’s called the AB 32 Scoping Plan. It’s a policy-wonky way of laying out exactly what California is doing to fight climate change. State law requires greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020.
“We’re doing well in terms of the 2020 targets,” says Dave Clegern with the California Air Resources Board. He says the nearly 150-page plan also looks beyond that goal.
“We then have to reduce them an additional 80 percent by 2050," says Clegern. "This document is really the first one we’ve put out that really looks in the direction of how we might do that.”
Clegern says that means looking for emissions reductions in other sectors- not just transportation - but in agriculture, forestry and even the water system.
The plan also examines ways to reduce highly potent climate warming pollutants like methane and black carbon. It will be updated in five years.
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