I write to urge you to strengthen and improve the
Draft 2022 Scoping Plan Update. Scientists have increasingly raised
the alarm that this decade is our last chance to make significant
and meaningful changes in our transportation, energy, building, and
other major infrastructure to prevent an irreversible climate
catastrophe. I am therefore disappointed that the Draft
Scoping Plan fails to accelerate the targets to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, or to achieve
carbon neutrality no earlier than 2045. It is simply not good
enough to meet the urgency of the climate crisis and the desperate
need for bold actions. CARB must achieve a more ambitious Scoping
Plan that leads to an accelerated pathway to carbon neutrality so
that the state’s 40 million residents and future generations
of Californians can live in and thrive in a cleaner and healthier
environment.
I strongly urge the California Air Resources Board to
adopt a more ambitious plan for how our state will combat the most
catastrophic impacts of climate change in the crucial years ahead.
To accomplish this, CARB must improve the Draft Scoping Plan by
accelerating a phase-out of oil and gas extraction and oil
refining, eliminate investment in fossil-fuel infrastructure,
eliminating or significantly reducing our reliance on unproven and
costly technologies to prolong polluting fuel sources, pursuing
more robust transportation sector targets, and decarbonizing
buildings. The escalating climate crisis demands that CARB adopts a
more ambitious Scoping Plan, one with the vision and conviction to
provide the solutions that are needed to overcome the crisis that
we face. Thank you for your consideration.
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