The Good and the Bad of California’s New Climate Plan

The ConcoPhillips oil refinery Rodeo, California. Environmental justice advocates are disappointed with the new plan’s reliance on carbon capture and storage (CCS) for fossil fuel infrastructure like oil refineries and gas-fired power plants. Photo by Thomas Hawk.

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  • The Good and the Bad of California’s New Climate Plan

California’s new climate change strategy aims to make the state carbon neutral by 2045 and slash greenhouse gas emissions 48 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 — a more ambitious target than the existing mandate to reduce emissions 40 percent by 2030. While the new plan has some significant improvements, many climate advocates and policy experts say it still has some major issue, including an over-reliance on controversial technofixes that also have environmental justice implications.

Terra Verde host and Journal editor Maureen Nandini Mitra, discusses the high points and low points of the plan with Ryan Schleeter, Communications Director of The Climate Center and Faraz Rizvi of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

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