Ocean carbon dioxide removal projects.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to establish a Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization, and Storage Program to capture, remove, and store carbon dioxide, as provided. Existing law requires the program, among other things, to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and viability of specified technologies and to facilitate the capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide from these technologies, where appropriate. This bill would require the state board, among other things, to develop, by January 1, 2027, a plan to include ocean carbon dioxide removal technology and projects that it determines are environmentally safe and sustainable into the Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization, and Storage Program, and to qualify environmentally safe and sustainable projects for inclusion in carbon credit programs, including, but not limited to, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations and the market-based compliance mechanism, as provided. The bill would require the state board and any agency with a relevant financial incentive program, as specified, to consider whether it is appropriate to make an ocean carbon dioxide removal project eligible for that financial incentive program, to the extent the ocean carbon dioxide removal project achieves similar or better climate and environmental policy goals.