In September 2018, Governor Brown issued Executive Order (EO) B-55-18. It established a new statewide goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. Additionally, Senate Bill (SB) 100, The 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018, was signed into law. The enactment of SB 100 marked a major commitment by the state to fully decarbonize electricity generated by publicly and privately owned utilities by 2045. Together, these actions create both the opportunity to advance statewide sustainability and the challenge of how to account for the goals in planning and environmental analysis.
Paper: “Decarbonized California: A Bold Vision”
Now that achievement of carbon neutrality has been established as a California goal, local and state agencies are considering how to integrate this goal into planning and environmental analysis actions. Many agencies are in the strategy-development phase. The paper linked herein discusses implications of these carbon neutrality policies for state and local agencies preparing greenhouse gas (GHG) analyses that support climate action planning and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance.
If your agency is wrestling with its responses to the state’s carbon neutrality goals, please read the paper. It includes hyperlinks to source documents and practice recommendations intended to provide useful information about planning and environmental review approaches that focus on transportation modes without GHG emissions, electrification of residential and nonresidential buildings, land conservation for carbon sequestration purposes, renewable energy generation and storage concepts, and other actions that will promote the pursuit of statewide carbon neutrality goals.
If you have questions about California’s climate policy and legislation and how to apply GHG emissions reductions in environmental analyses or planning, please feel free to contact us.
