California's Decade of Decision
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When California leads the world soon follows! It's already happening with our zero-emission cars and clean trucks programs. But we must move faster and make the change bigger, so we’re talking with the leaders responsible for formulating California's world-leading climate strategies over the past decade, and with key environmental and environmental justice advocates, to discuss a possible statewide ballot measure to finish cleaning our air and help roll back climate change, and to significantly reduce greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants (black carbon, methane, ozone and hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs) with:
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The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Advanced Clean Truck Rule requires truck manufacturers to aggressively expand their zero-emission truck fleets, likely to be powered by electric batteries and/or hydrogen fuel cells. Governor Newsom’s Executive Order says no cars powered by fossil fuels will be sold in California after 2035! And there will be an ever-expanding fleet of zero-emission cars until then! As a result of this progress, every vehicle technology and most equipment will soon have zero-emission options as well—even trains, ships, boats and aircraft. And what is not zero-emission will be the cleanest available technology. With:
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For years we thought CO2 was the most powerful driver of climate change. We were wrong. It is just the most abundant. The more powerful gases are short-lived climate pollutants or SLCPs—aka super pollutants—such as methane, black carbon, ozone and HFCs. Methane is almost 80 times more powerful than CO2! And while SLCPs are less abundant than CO2 they drive more than 40% of all global warming, and until recently received little attention. Now we know: Reducing SLCPs is our biggest opportunity to stall, even abate, climate change! The good news: SLCPs decay much faster than CO2.
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We have to reduce short-lived climate pollutants or SLCPs, otherwise known as super pollutants. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls SLCPs “near-term climate forcers”: greenhouse gases and other climate pollutants that have short atmospheric lifetimes compared to CO2 but per molecule have a much stronger warming effect than CO2. This means that reducing them has a stronger impact on near-term warming. In fact, reducing SLCPs could slow the planet’s warming by about half a degree by 2050! We'll be talking with these SLCP, climate and clean air experts:
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Our goods movement system has long been dominated by diesel technologies, which drive the engines in trucks, buses, trains, ships, and off-road equipment. Trucks alone emit nearly a third of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and more than a quarter of diesel particulate matter, and ocean-going ships are expected to surpass trucks to become the largest source of NOx in the state by 2023. But while that’s the bad news there is also some good news: Solutions are emerging, and we can and must help accelerate their adoption—zero-emission batteries and/or hydrogen could completely displace diesel engines.
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There were 10 million electric cars on the world’s roads in 2020 with battery electric models driving the expansion. Experts believe zero-emission cars, SUVs and trucks will soon dominate the light-duty vehicle market. But most air pollution and greenhouse gases are emitted by diesel-powered trucks, off-road vehicles, trains, ships, aircraft, port and construction equipment. Can these vehicles be powered by electric batteries? Now there's minimal charging infrastructure in place to support heavy-duty battery-electric long-haul trucks and off-road vehicles. Can vehicle manufacturers significantly ramp up production in time to avoid a 1.5°C increase above pre-industrial levels? With:
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The driving range of battery electric trucks, especially the heavy-duty long-haul trucks that deliver goods to every state across the country, requires frequent stops for charging—which still takes a long time—and there's very little charging infrastructure for long-haul carriers in place. And while lithium-ion batteries have improved the driving range, these batteries are very heavy and take up a lot of space on a truck. These issues also challenge the use of electric batteries for both ships and trains. Hydrogen fuels used in long-haul trucks as well as on ships and trains may be better able to serve this sector of the vehicle marketplace because hydrogen fuel cells have a longer range, require less fueling time, and are much lighter than batteries.
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We need climate-friendly travel to get us from city to city around California, and both the public and private sectors are exploring ways to take cars off the road. We need solutions that not only get us around but also continue to power our economy, provide good paying jobs, and address the devastating health impacts of diesel pollution, wildfires and oil spills. This requires the adoption of new transportation options—some powered by electric batteries or hydrogen.
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The world is changing because of climate change, not to mention increasing air pollution, and California is not faring very well so far. But we do have a jump on everywhere else in the USA when it comes to zero-emission vehicles and good regulations that define the path forward. We've got a long way to go, however, and need the rest of the world to come along—indeed other countries are leading the pack right now. So let's keep talking and spread the word about what we must do in order to curb climate change and clean the air.
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When California leads the world soon follows! It's already happening with our zero-emission cars and clean trucks programs. But we must move faster and make the change bigger, so we’re talking with the leaders responsible for formulating California's world-leading climate strategies over the past decade, and with key environmental and environmental justice advocates, to discuss a possible statewide ballot measure to finish cleaning our air and help roll back climate change, and to significantly reduce greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants (black carbon, methane, ozone and hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs) with:
|
|
The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Advanced Clean Truck Rule requires truck manufacturers to aggressively expand their zero-emission truck fleets, likely to be powered by electric batteries and/or hydrogen fuel cells. Governor Newsom’s Executive Order says no cars powered by fossil fuels will be sold in California after 2035! And there will be an ever-expanding fleet of zero-emission cars until then! As a result of this progress, every vehicle technology and most equipment will soon have zero-emission options as well—even trains, ships, boats and aircraft. And what is not zero-emission will be the cleanest available technology. With:
|
|
For years we thought CO2 was the most powerful driver of climate change. We were wrong. It is just the most abundant. The more powerful gases are short-lived climate pollutants or SLCPs—aka super pollutants—such as methane, black carbon, ozone and HFCs. Methane is almost 80 times more powerful than CO2! And while SLCPs are less abundant than CO2 they drive more than 40% of all global warming, and until recently received little attention. Now we know: Reducing SLCPs is our biggest opportunity to stall, even abate, climate change! The good news: SLCPs decay much faster than CO2.
|
|
We have to reduce short-lived climate pollutants or SLCPs, otherwise known as super pollutants. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls SLCPs “near-term climate forcers”: greenhouse gases and other climate pollutants that have short atmospheric lifetimes compared to CO2 but per molecule have a much stronger warming effect than CO2. This means that reducing them has a stronger impact on near-term warming. In fact, reducing SLCPs could slow the planet’s warming by about half a degree by 2050! We'll be talking with these SLCP, climate and clean air experts:
|
|
Our goods movement system has long been dominated by diesel technologies, which drive the engines in trucks, buses, trains, ships, and off-road equipment. Trucks alone emit nearly a third of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and more than a quarter of diesel particulate matter, and ocean-going ships are expected to surpass trucks to become the largest source of NOx in the state by 2023. But while that’s the bad news there is also some good news: Solutions are emerging, and we can and must help accelerate their adoption—zero-emission batteries and/or hydrogen could completely displace diesel engines.
|
|
There were 10 million electric cars on the world’s roads in 2020 with battery electric models driving the expansion. Experts believe zero-emission cars, SUVs and trucks will soon dominate the light-duty vehicle market. But most air pollution and greenhouse gases are emitted by diesel-powered trucks, off-road vehicles, trains, ships, aircraft, port and construction equipment. Can these vehicles be powered by electric batteries? Now there's minimal charging infrastructure in place to support heavy-duty battery-electric long-haul trucks and off-road vehicles. Can vehicle manufacturers significantly ramp up production in time to avoid a 1.5°C increase above pre-industrial levels? With:
|
|
The driving range of battery electric trucks, especially the heavy-duty long-haul trucks that deliver goods to every state across the country, requires frequent stops for charging—which still takes a long time—and there's very little charging infrastructure for long-haul carriers in place. And while lithium-ion batteries have improved the driving range, these batteries are very heavy and take up a lot of space on a truck. These issues also challenge the use of electric batteries for both ships and trains. Hydrogen fuels used in long-haul trucks as well as on ships and trains may be better able to serve this sector of the vehicle marketplace because hydrogen fuel cells have a longer range, require less fueling time, and are much lighter than batteries.
|
|
We need climate-friendly travel to get us from city to city around California, and both the public and private sectors are exploring ways to take cars off the road. We need solutions that not only get us around but also continue to power our economy, provide good paying jobs, and address the devastating health impacts of diesel pollution, wildfires and oil spills. This requires the adoption of new transportation options—some powered by electric batteries or hydrogen.
|
|
The world is changing because of climate change, not to mention increasing air pollution, and California is not faring very well so far. But we do have a jump on everywhere else in the USA when it comes to zero-emission vehicles and good regulations that define the path forward. We've got a long way to go, however, and need the rest of the world to come along—indeed other countries are leading the pack right now. So let's keep talking and spread the word about what we must do in order to curb climate change and clean the air.
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