California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: climate goals: natural and working lands.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide specific details on how these goals will be achieved or what activities landowners must undertake.

California Global Warming Solutions Act: Natural and Working Lands

This act sets goals to use natural lands, like forests and farms, to capture more carbon from the air and reduce greenhouse gases.

What This Bill Does

• Sets a goal for California to use its natural and working lands to capture more carbon from the air and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Requires the Natural Resources Agency to work with other groups to set targets for how much carbon these lands should capture by certain years, like 2030, 2038, and 2045.
• Ensures that plans to reduce emissions include ways to protect natural areas and support their ability to store more carbon.

Who It Names or Affects

• The State Air Resources Board
• Natural Resources Agency

Terms To Know

Greenhouse gases

Gases in the air that trap heat and cause global warming.

Carbon sequestration

The process of capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in plants, soil, or other natural systems.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify how much funding will be provided to support these goals.
• Does not detail exactly what activities landowners must do to meet the targets.
• The effectiveness of these measures depends on future actions and policies by state agencies.

Official Summary Text

AB 491, as amended, Connolly.
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: climate goals: natural and working lands.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases and requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act declares the policy of the state to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, and to achieve and maintain net negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter. 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.
The act also requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with
specified entities, including the state board, to determine an ambitious range of targets for natural carbon sequestration, and for nature-based climate solutions, that reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 2030, 2038, and 2045 to support state goals to achieve carbon neutrality and foster climate adaptation and resilience. The act requires these targets to be integrated into the above-described scoping plan and other state policies.
This bill would specify that it is the goal of the state to achieve each of the targets established by the Natural Resources Agency by the applicable date for the target, with priority given to activities that most rapidly, significantly, and cost effectively
increase carbon stocks and net sequestration, protect and support ecosystem function, and
reduce
emissionns
emissions
of greenhouse gases. The bill would also revise the definition of “natural carbon sequestration” for purposes of the above-described provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF