California Adopts Strong Global Warming Plan
In 2006 the California legislature passed a landmark bill to reduce global warming pollution to 1990 levels by 2020. Since then, the Union of Concerned Scientists has been working to ensure that an effective mix of strong climate policies are included in the state's plan to reach that goal. We were pleased that, in December 2008, the state adopted a strong, comprehensive plan in which the vast majority of the pollution reductions come from smart, innovative policies that will promote renewable energy, recycling, efficiency, and cleaner cars and trucks.
The plan also recommends using a cap-and-trade program--a market-based method of lowering global warming pollution--to achieve about 20 percent of the needed reductions. UCS activists and staff worked hard to strengthen the proposed cap-and-trade program, particularly in two key areas:
- Auctioning Pollution Allowances
UCS, alongside a coalition of environmental, labor, and health groups, waged a major campaign to ensure that allowances for global warming pollution are auctioned instead of given away to polluters for free. When the draft cap-and-trade plan was first released in June, it recommended allowing up to 90 percent of the allowances to be given away for free. Auctioning the permits is more fair and efficient and avoids windfall profits to polluters. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) ended up changing the plan to include language that UCS wrote, stating that California expects to auction significantly more than 10 percent of the allowances and to transition to 100 percent auctioning.
- Offsets
UCS took the lead in a coalition effort to tighten loopholes in the plan created by an over-reliance on offsets--credits based on estimated reductions from projects in other areas that polluters can buy in place of making pollution reductions themselves. UCS convinced CARB members that a program without strict limits on offsets would be less effective. It could lead to less technological innovation and fewer emission reductions in the highest polluting sectors all the while counting on often unreliable reductions somewhere else. The board ultimately required that the state do further studies on limiting the use of offsets.
Over the next two years, CARB will develop detailed regulations to implement all of the various components of the plan. UCS will continue to engage scientists, economists, and other technical and academic experts in this complex policy--making process as part of our campaign for strong and effective climate policies to reduce the pollution that causes global warming. We'll continue asking all of our supporters to push CARB to keep the plan as strong as possible.
