Transportation

California Raises Its Ambition for a Low-Carbon Fuel Future

First in a Series About California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program

[Post co-authored by Sean Hecht and Ted Parson] California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) has just enacted new regulations that strengthen the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The LCFS is a major component of California’s greenhouse-gas control strategy, but receives surprisingly little attention, compared to other policies like the statewide cap-and-trade system and the renewable …

CONTINUE READING

Mitigating Increased Driving Miles From New Projects Under CEQA

New Berkeley Law/CLEE report released today; Webinar discussion on Tuesday, October 30th

California law now requires developers of new projects, like apartment buildings, offices, and roads, to reduce the amount of overall driving miles the projects generate. Senate Bill 743 (Steinberg, 2013) authorized this change in the method of analyzing transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), from auto delay to vehicle miles traveled (VMT). …

CONTINUE READING

Achieving 100% Zero-Emission Vehicles — New CLEE Report Release Today

Report findings to be discussed at Global Climate Action Summit affiliate event in San Francisco today

Some countries and states, including California, are contemplating or making plans for phase-outs or bans on the sale of new internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by a date certain. Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) is today releasing the report 100% Zero to offer policy pathways to make such a scenario …

CONTINUE READING

Harnessing The “3 Revolutions” In Transportation To Achieve Climate Goals

Global Climate Action Summit event in San Francisco on Tuesday, September 11th, 2-5:30pm, reception to follow

Next week leaders from around the world will be in San Francisco for the Governor Brown-convened Global Climate Action Summit. The gathering is designed to showcase climate progress globally and help leaders share best practices and ideas on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the summit, many nonprofits, businesses and universities are hosting affiliate …

CONTINUE READING

New Policy Brief: How To Deploy Zero-Emission Freight Technologies At Southern California’s Ports

Brief captures key findings from UCLA / UC Berkeley Law conference in June

The environmental law centers at UCLA and UC Berkeley Schools of Law have released a new policy brief that describes the top challenges and solutions for deploying zero-emission freight technologies at Southern California’s ports. Policy Solutions to Boost Zero-Emission Freight at Southern California’s Ports summarizes the key findings from a conference on the topic at UCLA …

CONTINUE READING

NYC’s Cap on Uber and Lyft Is an Important Step for Cities

A temporary pause to identify regulatory solutions to social and environmental impacts

Last week, the New York City Council enacted a temporary cap on Uber, Lyft and other transportation network company (TNC) vehicles in the city, blocking the issuance of new vehicle licenses for a 12-month period while the city conducts a study to determine whether to enact long-term regulations limiting the number of TNC vehicles on …

CONTINUE READING

Trump administration and California are on collision course over vehicle emissions rules

Meredith Hankins and Nicholas Bryner co-author legal explainer for The Conversation

California and the Trump administration are going different directions on mileage standards. AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli Meredith Hankins, University of California, Los Angeles and Nicholas Bryner, Louisiana State University The Trump administration on Aug. 2 formally announced a proposal to freeze fuel economy standards and tailpipe emission standards for new cars. In addition, it is proposing …

CONTINUE READING

Weakening Vehicle Standards Ignores Decades of Successful Innovation in Emissions Control

EPA appears poised to abdicate their responsibility to protect public health

As my colleague Ann Carlson explained, the EPA is expected to announce a catastrophic rollback this week to freeze national vehicle emission and fuel economy standards and challenge California’s authority to set their own, more stringent standards. The Trump EPA’s decision to weaken the vehicle standards despite thorough midterm reviews by both the Obama-era EPA and California that …

CONTINUE READING

Wheeler EPA Looking to Freeze Auto Standards, Revoke California Waiver

Lawsuits will follow

According to a Bloomberg report this morning, the Trump Administration, under new EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, will release a proposal later this week to freeze greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards at 2020 levels. The effect is that automakers will face standards of about 35 miles per gallon rather than seeing the standards increase …

CONTINUE READING

Getting to Zero Fatalities

Eliminating traffic deaths and vehicle emissions by 2050? Not as crazy as you might think.

Could we have a transportation system with zero deaths from car crashed and zero emissions? That seems utopian but it’s not as crazy as it sounds. Even if we don’t get all the way to zero, we could get much closer than you might think. In The Road to Zero, RAND researchers provide a roadmap …

CONTINUE READING

Join Our Mailing List

Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

TRENDING