California Climate & Energy Collaborative

California beats its 2020 goals for cutting greenhouse gases

Sarina Soor
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“The California Air Resources Board announced Wednesday that total statewide carbon emissions fell to 429 million metric tons in 2016, a drop of 12 million tons from the year before. The decline means California met the Legislature’s goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels, and did so a full four years before the target year…

California, Greenhouse Gas Regulation, and Climate Change

Sarina Soor
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This paper examines California’s GHG reductions between 2007 (when the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) took effect), to 2017, when the California Air Resources Board adopted the most recent “Scoping Plan” prescribing existing and proposed new GHG reduction mandates (Scoping Plan) that CARB deems required to achieve the state’s legislated mandate of reducing…

California shift from annual to hourly GHG emissions tracking to focus reductions

Sarina Soor
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“In order to wring all possible emissions out of the state’s generation, the California Public Utilities Commission has pushed out new accounting methodology that was designed to provide insights into the emissions associated with the resources necessary to match load profiles, which will press utilities to focus on granular hourly data.” Click here to read…

Cap-and-Trade and Innovation

Sarina Soor
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“Virtually all economists agree that one of the biggest selling points for pricing greenhouse gases (GHGs) – whether a carbon tax or cap-and-trade — is that it will boost innovation in low-carbon technologies. But will innovation return the favor in California’s cap-and-trade market by making it function more smoothly, saving it from the potential Achilles’…

How McDonald’s plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than a third

Sarina Soor
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“McDonald’s has announced its first targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, claiming it will “prevent 150 million metric tons of emissions by 2030.” That’s a 36% reduction compared with the restaurant chain’s 2015 emissions. McDonald’s plan has been approved under the Science Based Target Initiative, which was set up to help companies set goals to…

Distributed solar and efficiency saves California $2.6 billion on power lines

Sarina Soor
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“California’s grid operator has chosen to cancel 20 transmission projects and revise 21 others, as energy efficiency and distributed generation prove their worth. The majority of the projects were located in the service area of utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), while two of the canceled projects were located in San Diego Gas & Electric…

RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative: Benefits Matrix

Sarina Soor
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RE-Powering tracks the economic and environmental benefits associated with completed sites, as identified and reported by parties directly involved with their respective projects. Common benefits reported include revenues from land leases and taxes, electricity cost savings associated with the reduced need to purchase power from the grid, job creation, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, et al.…

LA City council moves to slash ghg emissions from buildings

Sarina Soor
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“The council approved a resolution that requires the city’s building department and utility to 1) make specific recommendations to reduce building demand for natural gas, and shift gas use to clean (pollution-free) electricity, and 2) establish aggressive 2028 and 2038 building electrification targets that meet or exceed the LA’s climate goals, which include reducing GHG emissions…