Greenhouse gases: carbon neutrality.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years. This bill would declare the policy of the state to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, and to achieve and maintain net negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter. The bill would require the state board to work with relevant state agencies to develop a framework for implementation and accounting that tracks progress toward achieving carbon neutrality, and to ensure that updates to the scoping plan identify and recommend measures to achieve carbon neutrality. The bill would require a specified plan prepared by the state board and other specified agencies to include sequestration targets consistent with achieving carbon neutrality, and would impose other requirements on state agencies relating to working toward carbon neutrality.