The bumpy road to carbon neutrality

THE BUZZ: California has proven it can set climate change goals. Now comes the hard part.

State officials at the Air Resources Board passed a major milestone yesterday by giving its stamp of approval to California’s latest scoping plan, the years-long roadmap that lays out how the state plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2045. Doing so will require a serious shift away from fossil fuel, and recent moves by state officials, like the 2035 ban on new gas vehicles and a $54 billion climate package, will help the state get there.

But as Gov. Jerry Brownkeenly observed when he signed the executive order in 2018, reaching carbon neutrality by 2045 “will not be easy.”

California will need to quadruple wind and solar power by 2045 to meet its goals and the expected growth in demand, as POLITICO’s Camille von Kaenel has reported. The Air Resources Board also says California needs to cut back its driving by roughly a third to lower pollution to target levels — something that’s going to be tricky considering efforts to reduce driving have faltered in the past.

Gov. Gavin Newsom specifically has invested a significant amount of political capital in ensuring California meets its goals, but it’s not just his future that will be affected by this plan. Ambitious moves on climate change have quickly become a defining characteristic of the California brand. The vision laid out in the Golden State is often the model for others around the country and the world. President Joe Biden last year signed a nationwide goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.