As the previous post discussed here, the City of Berkeley was granted until 5/31/23 to file a petition for rehearing en banc to the full 9th Circuit. Yesterday, the City of Berkeley filed its Petition for Rehearing En Banc. This sets in motion a period for the 9th Circuit to review and grant or deny rehearing that can range from 21 days to more than 150 days depending on procedural action. To grant rehearing, a majority of the 29 sitting 9th Circuit Judges must vote for rehearing. If granted, the three judge panel opinion issued on 4/17/ 23 is rescinded with the en banc court taking full contr ..read more

On April 17, 2023, a three judge panel for the Ninth Circuit issued an Opinion in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley finding that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) preempts a City of Berkeley’s ordinance that prohibits the installation of natural gas plumbing in new construction. This opinion is far reaching in its implication for local government authority to adopt municipal code language and amendments to state building codes in California, particularly where these amendments electrify end-uses that are “covered products” for consumer products and commercial pr ..read more

Sometimes we get so focused on our silos that we don’t see connections across silos or the broader context. At EPIC we spend a lot of time working on policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but during a recent project on carbon offset credits I learned more about the role of natural and working lands in California’s climate strategy. Add to that the recent activity related to carbon dioxide removal, particularly engineered solutions, and I began to see a more complete picture of climate action. In hopes of making the complex work of climate policy a bit more digestible, consider ..read more

California Route 125 at night, in La Mesa, California. Co-authored with Bill Brick (San Diego Air Pollution Control District) Over the past several weeks there has been a reduction in daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the San Diego region due to Shelter-in-Place orders issued by the Governor of California.  As discussed in a previous blog post, this decline in VMT has led to a reduction in greenhouse gases, the key gases in the changing climate. But there is also a relationship between VMT and daily and short-term air pollution.[1] We know that over two-thirds of smog-forming emission ..read more

This blog was drafted by Allie Maggart, a 2024 J.D./M.A. joint degree candidate at the University of San Diego School of Law and Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, with minimal edits. As the legislative calendars move towards the end of the 2022 term with the next major deadline being whether bills reach the governor’s desk, the following provides an update on climate and energy legislative trends from the 2021-2022 sessions based on several interrelated topics: housing, wildfire, greenhouse gas emissions, transportation, energy demand response, and utilities regulation. The Legislature wil ..read more

Source: https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/science/carbon-sequestration/biological/ In my last post on “coming to terms” with climate commitments, I focused on the terms and the meaning of various climate commitments. It is important to understand what they mean but it is equally important to understand the magnitude of the commitments. To make it easy, let’s look at California’s target to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible but no later than 2045, and then to achieve net negative emissions thereafter. I will focus only on the carbon neutrality part here. California’s Air Resources Bo ..read more

Source: https://www.lsh.co.uk/explore/sustainability/2019/08/net-zero-carbon From local governments to Fortune 500 companies, it seems everyone has a climate commitment these days. President Biden has a goal of achieving a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050. California Governor Gavin Newsom asked the State’s Air Resources Board and Public Utilities Commission to evaluate pathways to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 – faster than contemplated in a previously adopted executive order. The City of Irvine adopted a resolution setting a goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. And companies ..read more

With the October 10th deadline passing for the Governor to act on bills approved by the Legislature, the following represents the conclusion of tracked bills. There is still an option for the Legislature to override a veto and the vetoed bills will be tracked until the time period to override ends. Major trends from this session include a wide range of wildfire related bills, carbon sequestration, firm renewable energy resources and offshore wind, waste reduction and recycling, oil and gas well issues and mitigation, CEQA streamlining, and mitigation of and adaptation to climate impacts. You ..read more

The deadline to pass bills occurred on September 10, 2021 for the current 2021 session. The Governor has until October 10th, 2021 to sign or veto these bills. You can link to our Legislative Database to view relevant bills from this session that we will continue to track. Several trends emerge from this session from the approximately 60 relevant bills enrolled by the legislative deadline. There continues to be a major emphasis on wildfire planning and mitigation as the state continues to see consistent wildfires each year that burn large acreage and threaten life, safety, and property. How to ..read more

Last week, the California Energy Commission (CEC) adopted energy efficiency standards to be included in the 2022 state building standards (Title 24, Part 6). The new energy code will further increase building energy efficiency and reduce emissions from California buildings when they go into effect January 1, 2023. But what will these new state standards mean for the many local governments across the state that have adopted or are in the process of adopting reach codes that go beyond what the state is currently requiring? Reach Codes in California Since January 2020, the number of reach codes ..read more