AB 32 Final Implementation Plan issued by CARB
This week, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) issued its final implementation plan directed at meeting the greenhouse gas reduction goals set forth in the state’s amibitious 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, commonly referred to as AB 32. The 142-page final version of the plan incorporates feedback received in the four months since a Draft Scoping Plan was released by CARB in June. In it, CARB provides estimates of how and where the state and its residents will need to reduce emissions to return to 1990 carbon emission levels. The plan estimates that California will need reduce its annual emissions by about 4 tons per person—from 14 tons currently to about 10 tons in 2020.
While the final plan includes steps designed to reach these reductions goals – notably including a cap-and-trade program for businesses – the specific implementing regulations have yet to be drafted, leaving significant hurdles to clear in order to achieve AB 32’s GHG emission reduction goals, particularly in a time of such serious economic challenges in the state.
AB 32 set a goal of reducing California GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and reducing them to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The implementation plan seeks to achieve these reductions by, among other things, reducing leakage of harmful air conditioning and refrigeration gases, expanding commercial recycling programs, and establishing greenhouse gas reduction targets for local governments.
One of the key aspects of the plan, however, is a cap-and-trade program, designed to enable companies who need to use greater emissions to operate to purchase emissions credits from companies who are able to reduce emissions. Such a trading program would cover about 85 percent of the state's emissions, from sectors such as electricity production, transportation and industry, according to CARB’s press release announcing the plan.
Final decisions regarding the regulations needed to put the implementation plan into action are likely several years away. Debate over all aspects of the final implementation plan, and lobbying by all parties concerned, is sure to fill the intervening time.
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