California’s heatwaves and drought underscore the urgency of reducing fossil fuel use and eliminating planet-warming air emissions, a senior state official said during discussions on a new plan for the state to achieve its climate goals.

“I think every Californian today knows we’re in a climate emergency,” said Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

He spoke as the California Air Resources Board opened a hearing on a plan for the nation’s most populous state to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. That means the state would remove as much carbon from the air that it emits. The timeline is among the most ambitious in the country and the world, but few who commented publicly were happy with the state’s plan to reach that milestone.

Environmental groups, academics and people living in heavily polluted neighborhoods said the plan did not do enough to reduce the production or use of fossil fuels. At the same time, some business, industry and labor groups have said the transition could drive up prices and hurt workers.

“How we reach our climate goals matters as much as when we reach them, and we need a plan for real zero, not net zero,” said Climate Change Advisory Board member Catherine Garoupa White. environmental justice of the plan and executive director of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition.

Air Board members will have their own discussion on the plan. The 14-member Board of Directors is comprised of political appointees with experience in local air boards, the transportation sector, environmental justice communities and the agriculture..

California is often touted as a leader in US climate policy and has established some of the most aggressive rules to regulate vehicle emissions. The size of California’s economy, larger than that of most countries, means that the state’s climate policies can often drive major business shifts. Its 2045 carbon neutral goal is matched only by Hawaii among states, and tracks targets set by other major economies like Germany.

The state would achieve its goal by combining reducing the use of fossil fuels and using technology to remove all remaining emissions from the air. NEB staff estimate this would reduce economy-wide demand for oil and the use of fossil natural gas in buildings by 91% by 2045.

This would require 30 times more electric vehicles on the road than today, six times more electrical appliances in homes, four times more wind and solar generation, and 60 times more hydrogen.

Such a drastic transition would reduce state emissions by about 78% in 2045. Some observers note that Washington and New York, two Democratic-led states, have more ambitious direct emissions reduction targets, 95% and 85 % respectively, although the proposals don’t offer perfect comparisons.

Critics from environmental groups say California’s plan does not call for deep enough emissions reductions and relies too heavily on unproven, energy-intensive carbon capture and removal. Concerns about this technology go hand in hand with global worries about how best to meet emissions targets.

The meeting became tense mid-afternoon as environmental justice advocates who had gathered outside entered the courtroom and began chanting and chanting a speaker representing interests commercial. The air council briefly interrupted the meeting as the chants protesting the use of fossil fuels continued.

Environmental advocates said they believe business and fossil fuel representatives have more favorable speaking slots.

“There aren’t two sides to this question,” said Ari Eisenstadt, campaign manager for Regenerate California, an effort to move away from fossil fuels.

George Peppas, president of a group of South Los Angeles Chambers of Commerce, criticized the board for allowing the hiatus. He said scrapping the gas-powered car plan would cut gas tax revenue that is essential for road maintenance and that electric cars would be too expensive for many people.

The plan predicts that demand for electricity will increase by 68% as more people drive electric cars and get rid of gas stoves and other household appliances.

Some environmental justice advocates have said electric cars may be out of reach for many people, but the answer should instead be greater investment in public transport. Poor neighborhoods often bear the brunt of fossil fuel pollution.

“We need clean air and reliable public transportation,” said Karla Monsivais, a resident of San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood.

California’s proposal is based on removing 80 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air by 2045. This amount of removal represents the “highest risk scenario” for meeting the climate goals of the State, according to an October 2020 analysis by Environmental + Energy Economics, an outside body. consulting company hired by the air board to model various proposals.

At present, carbon capture is not widely used, although the Biden administration is spending billions to speed it up. Some speakers favored the plan’s reliance on technology.

“Deep decarbonization depends on many options,” said Alex Kizer, senior vice president of research and analysis at Energy Futures Initiative, a group led by former US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “We see (carbon capture and sequestration) as one of the most valuable decarbonization solutions for the country and especially for the state.”

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