I am writing to you as an environmental energy
scientist who is now retired but for years was a Deputy Division
Leader in the Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division at
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBL) and the founder and leader of
the sustainable energy systems group at LBL. Now I write to you as
a private citizen. I have been reading through the Draft 2022
Scoping Plan Update and believe there are several ways to
strengthen and improve this plan. Climate scientists and energy
analysts have increasingly raised the alarm that this decade is our
last chance to make significant and meaningful changes in our
transportation, energy, building, and other major infrastructure to
prevent an irreversible climate catastrophe. In this regard I am
disappointed that the Draft Scoping Plan fails to accelerate the
targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels
by 2030 or to achieve carbon neutrality no earlier than 2045. It is
simply not good enough to meet the urgency of the climate crisis
and the desperate need for bold actions. CARB can and must achieve
a more ambitious Scoping Plan that leads to an accelerated pathway
to carbon neutrality. This will not only benefit the residents of
California but will also provide a model for other states (and
perhaps even the US federal government) to follow.
I strongly urge the California Air Resources Board to
adopt a more ambitious plan on how our state will combat the most
catastrophic impacts of climate change in the crucial years ahead.
To accomplish this, CARB must improve the Draft Scoping Plan by
accelerating a phase-out of oil refining; not making any more
investment in fossil fuel infrastructure; eliminating or
significantly reducing our reliance on unproven and costly
technologies to prolong polluting fuel sources; pursuing more
robust transportation sector targets; and decarbonizing buildings.
The escalating climate crisis demands that CARB adopts a more
ambitious Scoping Plan, one with the vision and conviction to
provide the solutions that are needed to overcome the crisis that
we face. Thank you for your consideration.
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