CA is not Serious about VMT Reduction
02/05/17 Filed in: Climate
Change |
Transportation
Planning
TRANSDEF’s
organizational focus is the reduction of GHG
emissions from transportation. Much of our work has
involved the state’s policy-setting agency for
climate change, the California Air Resources Board,
or ARB. ARB has produced generally excellent climate
change plans, called Scoping Plans. However, it has
consistently been weak in the area of reducing GHG
emissions from transportation, despite determining
that nearly half of the state’s GHG emissions are
generated by the transportation sector. TRANSDEF
suspects that high-level officials in state
government are unwilling to take on the inevitable
controversy that would accompany a serious effort to
shift how Californians travel. Not only would this
represent an unprecedented level of cultural change,
it would require shifting transportation funding to
exclusively low-carbon modes, which entrenched
interest groups would resist.
ARB’s lack of courage in this sector is generally unrecognized, even within the climate advocacy community. TRANSDEF’s concern is that without significant reductions in transportation emissions, the state will not reach its goal of 2050 GHG emissions 80% below 1990 levels, the percentage reduction identified as needed to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2° C. TRANSDEF has a long history of advocacy in climate policy, which is detailed on the new page posted today.
ARB’s lack of courage in this sector is generally unrecognized, even within the climate advocacy community. TRANSDEF’s concern is that without significant reductions in transportation emissions, the state will not reach its goal of 2050 GHG emissions 80% below 1990 levels, the percentage reduction identified as needed to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2° C. TRANSDEF has a long history of advocacy in climate policy, which is detailed on the new page posted today.