San Francisco Chronicle: Air board sets target to reduce emissions nearly 30 percent by 2020
California's ambitious goal to fight global warming now has a specific target that will allow officials to measure the success of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in the coming years.
The California Air Resources Board on Thursday set the target at 427 million metric tons by the year 2020 - a nearly 30 percent reduction from emission levels if no new regulations were in place.
To help reach that goal, the air board also adopted a mandate for the state's largest industrial air polluters - such as oil refineries, cement plants and electricity generators - to begin tracking their greenhouse gas emissions next year.
Those firms will also be required to report their numbers to the air board beginning in 2009.
The two actions are key steps to meeting the goals of AB32, the landmark global warming legislation approved last year.
"The items the board adopted today are a clear demonstration that we continue to meet our statutory deadlines under AB32," air board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said in a written statement shortly after the board's decision at its meeting in Southern California.
Under the law, the state must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. On Thursday, the air board established that target as 427 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
One million metric tons of carbon dioxide is produced by 200,000 passenger cars driven every day for a year, said air board spokesman Stanley Young.
Meeting the 2020 goal will be a daunting task. About 500 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year is emitted now in the state, whose population is expected to grow in the coming decades.
The new law will also likely impact many facets of living and doing business in California, ranging from the types of fuel that motorists pump into their vehicles to new ways that commercial plants use power from alternative sources such as solar and wind.
Environmental groups hailed the board's actions as key starting points in the fight on global warming.
"Now, the rubber is hitting the road," said Karen Douglas, director of California climate initiative for Environmental Defense.
By June, the air board will create a blueprint of broad regulations and ideas on how to reduce greenhouse gases. The board will begin that process with a public meeting Dec. 14, when the agency's staff will preview how emissions can be reduced by sectors including transportation, industry and electric utilities.