What's New List Serve Post Display

What's New List Serve Post Display

Below is the List Serve Post you selected to display.
newsrel -- California greenhouse gas inventory shows state is on track to achieve 2020 AB 32 target

Posted: 30 Jun 2015 14:53:10
Please consider the following news release from the California
Air Resources Board: http://bit.ly/1CHBwwF

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 30, 2015

NEWS RELEASE 15-37

CONTACT:

Dave Clegern
(916) 322-2990
dave.clegern@arb.ca.gov


California greenhouse gas inventory shows state is on track to
achieve 2020 AB 32 target

‘Carbon intensity’ of economy continues to drop even as state GDP
grows

SACRAMENTO — The Air Resources Board today released the latest
edition of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory, which
shows that emissions fell by 1.5 million metric tons in 2013
compared with the previous year even while the economy grew at
2.0 percent, a rate greater than the national average. 

“This inventory provides convincing evidence that California can
grow its economy and continue to fight climate change,” said
Board Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “As we move toward an
international climate agreement in Paris, California is showing
the world how to throw off the shackles of fossil fuel
dependency. No longer must economic growth result in smokestacks
and pollution.  California is on a sustainable trajectory towards
a clean energy economy. ”

California’s annual statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
inventory is an important tool for establishing historical
emission trends and tracking California’s progress toward the
goal set by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32).The
law set a target of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

After rising during the 2000s, the state’s overall greenhouse gas
emissions fell in 2008 as a result of the recession. The decline
leveled off from 2009 to 2011 and increased by 2 percent in 2012,
due in part to the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating
Station and a drop in hydropower generation. The drop in
hydropower has now been completely replaced by in-state wind and
solar power. The 2013 inventory shows a decline of 1.5 million
metric tons in emissions compared with 2012.

Overall trends in the inventory also demonstrate that the carbon
intensity of California’s economy, the amount of carbon pollution
per million dollars of GDP, is declining. Carbon intensity has
dropped 23 percent from the peak in 2001, and declined an average
of 1.9 percent per year over the past four years as GDP grew 6.6
percent overall during the same period. This demonstrates a
decoupling of economic growth and carbon pollution.

Per capita emissions continued their decline. Over the 2000 to
2013 period, per capita GHG emissions in California dropped from
a peak of 14.0 tons per person in 2001 to 12.0 tons per person in
2013, a 14 percent decrease overall. 

Emissions from most major economic sectors in California either
declined or remained flat in 2013. Industrial emissions were
about the same as in 2012, while the electric power sector showed
a slight decrease from 2012. 

Emissions from the transportation sector rose by a single
percentage point compared to 2012, but are still down 11 percent
from the peak year of 2007. The main source of the rise in
transportation emissions was the increased use of diesel by
trucks. Transportation remains the largest source of greenhouse
gas emissions at 37 percent of total emissions.

The Air Resources Board is also tracking short-lived climate
pollutants (methane, black carbon, fluorinated gases) and plans
to release a strategic plan to reduce these pollutants later this
year. These climate pollutants the potential to warm the
atmosphere hundreds and even thousands of times more than CO2.
California is now focusing more intensely on reducing these gases
because of the relatively quick reduction in warming which can be
achieved. To learn more about these programs, go to:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/shortlived/shortlived.htm.

The data in the inventory comes from a number of sources
including California’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting
Regulation, the California Energy Commission, and the U.S. Energy
Information Administration.

California has developed an integrated set of programs to meet
the greenhouse gas reduction goals of AB 32. The primary programs
are the Renewable Portfolio Standard, the Advanced Clean Cars
program, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and the Cap-and-Trade
program. Reductions also result from numerous energy efficiency
and conservation programs. To learn more about these programs,
click here: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/cc.htm

Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. recently established a 2030
greenhouse gas reduction goal of 40 percent below 1990 levels, an
interim target toward meeting the 2050 goal of reducing emissions
80 percent below 1990 levels.

California has also joined with a growing list of states and
provinces from around the world in a first-of-its-kind agreement
(viewable at http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18964 ) to limit
global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius. To date, 14 states
have signed the so-called "Under 2 MOU," which provides a
template for the world's nations to follow as work continues
toward an international agreement at this year's United Nations
Climate Change Conference in Paris.

You can find the California Greenhouse Gas Inventory and a
related discussion of trends here:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/inventory.htm 


California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.

ARB What's New

preload