CSAC Bulletin Article

CARB Holds Workshop on Transportation and Land Use Strategies for GHG Reduction

September 15, 2016

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) hosted a public workshop on strategies in the transportation and land use sector to help achieve the State’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals. The AB 32 Scoping Plan, which outlines the State’s comprehensive strategies to achieve our ambitious GHG reduction goals, is currently being updated to reflect the newest objective pursuant to SB 32 which requires reductions of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

The crux of the workshop this week was that additional emissions reductions from the transportation and land use sectors beyond those related to existing mandates, such as SB 375, would be required in order to meet the state’s climate goals.

The morning session was largely focused on two draft papers of interest to local governments, both which are currently out for comment: A discussion paper on state-level strategies to reduce vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and a statewide land use vision for California in 2050. CSAC is still in process of reviewing both documents, which were only publicly released shortly before the Wednesday workshop.

The VMT strategy aims to promote infill development and land conservation, as well as encourage infrastructure investment consistent with the State’s other land use and health goals. Moreover, the strategy aims to promote more efficient use of existing transportation infrastructure through means including transportation demand management and pricing. The strategy also includes a discussion of social equity concerns related to each of these categories of strategies.

The land use vision, which was endorsed by all of the state agencies represented on the Strategic Growth Council, is “intended to consider land use in the context of the California’s climate change policy and how the State can support actions, at all levels of government, to facilitate development and conservation patterns that help to achieve the State’s climate goals.” While the vision clearly states that it does not intend to remove land use policy “from the domain of local governments,” and many of the strategies appear to be consistent with CSAC policies, CSAC will carefully review the document to ensure consistency with our adopted policy and appropriate state and local government roles.

CARB is accepting written comments on yesterday’s workshop until September 28. CSAC will review the documents from the morning session and submit comments. We encourage counties to provide us with any feedback to help inform our comments by Friday, September 23 via email to clee@counties.org.

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