LWV LA County ILO makes suggestions to help LA County improve their Climate Action Plan

 

by Grace Peng, July 2022

LWV LA County ILO recently took action to write a letter to LA County suggesting ways they could improve upon their Climate Action Plan (CAP) so that LA Co can truly meet our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction goals.  By their own admission, transportation contributes over 44% to LA Co’s GHG emissions and 52% of emissions in unincorporated parts of LA Co. Yet their CAP relies heavily on things outside of LA Co’s control, such as robotic cars, virtual power plants and Direct Air Capture(DAC) of CO2 from the atmosphere.

UC Berkeley researchers found “that roughly 35% of all carbon footprint abatement potential statewide is from activities at least partially within the control of local governments.” Local Governments control zoning and their streets. Rezoning to allow more homes in urban infill areas where there is less need for driving, and remodeling streets to allow more trips to be safely and conveniently done without cars, can reduce GHG emissions many times more than other interventions that get less attention.

Consider the Cool Climate Local Gov’t Climate Policy Tool for Cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

Urban infill (zoning, parking reform) and VMT reduction (bike lanes, transit) can reduce 10.7x as much GHG emissions for Santa Monica as Renewable Electricity (6.4x in LA City). Our political leadership is acting with urgency on the wrong things. We can, and must, do it all at the same time because the climate can’t wait. More homes for people instead of cars. More homes with elevators to train stations instead of waiting for robotaxis that may never come.

LWV LAC ILO wrote a detailed 12-page letter with specific recommendations for actions from Appendix E: Implementation Details. The letter refers to appropriate League policy positions and current research about best practices.  Please give it a read.