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California air regulators voted Thursday to approve a plan that would dramatically cut reliance on fossil fuels to address climate change.
The 2022 Scoping Plan, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) said, slashes greenhouse gas emissions by 85% and achieves carbon neutrality by 2045.
The action to shift from reliance on petroleum and fossil gas to clean and renewable energy resources and zero-emission vehicles following two years of development, including public meetings and comments from hundreds of community members and stakeholders.
It draws on and continues several climate programs currently in effect, but includes the need for an accelerated target of a 48% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by the end of this decade.
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The board said the economy-wide shift away from fossil fuels seeks to reduce fossil fuel consumption to less than one-tenth of the current use, cut greenhouse gas emissions by 85% below 1990 levels, reduce smog-forming air pollution by 71%, create four million new jobs and save residents $200 billion in health costs due to pollution by 2045.
The board said the final modeling for the plan also includes three million climate-friendly homes by 2030, six million heat pumps deployed by 2030, no new fossil gas capacity in the electricity sector and 20 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2045.
This aerial photo shows the Standard Oil Refinery in El Segundo, Calif., with Los Angeles International Airport in the background and the El Porto neighborhood of Manhattan Beach, Calif., in the foreground on May 25, 2017. ((AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) / AP Newsroom)
Capturing large amounts of carbon and storing it underground is one of the most controversial elements of the proposal and critics say it gives the state’s biggest emitters reason to not do enough on their part to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom – who made revisions to the plan – noted that the California Energy Commission on Wednesday approved funding for 90,000 new electric vehicle chargers across the state, with a $2.9 billion investment.
Furthermore, he highlighted that utility regulators in the Golden State approved major changes to the rooftop solar market that they say will more evenly spread the cost of energy, help reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels in the evening and promote grid reliability.
The policy approved by the California Public Utilities Commission lessens the overall payment for selling excess power. It also revamps electric rates to try to encourage people to build home storage systems alongside their panels, so they can tap that stored power at night or feed it back to the grid, either of which would help the system rely less on fossil fuels.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom, center, is flanked by state lawmakers while discussing the package of legislation he signed that accelerates the climate goals of the nation’s most populous state, at Mare Island in Vallejo, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2022. ((AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) / AP Newsroom)
Officials continue to grapple with how to avoid blackouts when record-breaking heat waves push Californians to turn up the air conditioning.
"We are making history here in California, and today caps an amazing 10 days for world-leading climate action," Newsom said in a statement. "California is leading the world’s most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution – we’re cutting pollution, turning the page on fossil fuels and creating millions of new jobs."
The 2022 Scoping Plan has faced strong reaction from both environmental groups and petroleum companies.
"CARB’s latest draft of the Scoping Plan has acknowledged what dozens of studies have confirmed – that a complete phase-out of oil and gas is unrealistic," a Western States Petroleum Association spokesperson told FOX Business in an email on Friday. "A plan that isn’t realistic isn’t really a plan at all."
The organization said that California will need technologically innovative solutions such as capture and storage (CCS), carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and an increased use of hydrogen.
"The 2022 Scoping Plan reduces emissions from liquid petroleum fuels in several ways which result in a phase-down, not a shutdown," the CARB told Fox Business in separate correspondence.
It noted that the state will continue to need gasoline and diesel for a while, and that it does not plan to end supply before there is adequate replacement with clean energy.
"We have been clear that demand reductions must be paired with supply-side reductions for fossil fuels," it said.
FILE – Solar panels on rooftops of a housing development in Folsom, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2020. ((AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) / AP Newsroom)
Connie Cho, an attorney for environmental justice group Communities for a Better Environment, said that the plan was a "huge step forward," but she criticized its carbon capture targets, arguing they give a pathway for refineries to continue polluting as the state cuts emissions in other areas.
"The governor has been clear that we must transition our refineries to produce the clean fuels we will need. Carbon capture and storage on those refineries will be a critical tool to keep reducing emissions," CARB told Fox Business, adding that the plan does not propose to keep current refineries going with their current fossil fuel production with carbon capture storage.
"Again, we must plan for this transition away from fossil fuels by ensuring clean energy is available to transition to and some of these existing assets can be part of that clean energy future," it said.
The plan would also mean less reliance by the agriculture sector on fossil fuels as an energy source and aims to achieve a 66% reduction in methane emissions.
In the transportation sector, the board's targets include having 20% of aviation fuel demand come from electric or hydrogen sources by 2045 and ensuring all medium-duty vehicles sold are zero-emission by 2040.
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It has already passed a policy to ban the sale of new cars powered solely by gasoline in the state starting in 2035.
Since 1990, 13 Californian refineries with a combined capacity of 3 million barrels per day have closed and current refining capacity in California is 1.7 million bpd.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.