California Air Resources Board reaffirms ambitious climate regulatory agenda

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is maintaining an ambitious regulatory agenda focused on emissions reduction and carbon management. During a Climate Week event in New York City, the ARB chair reaffirmed the agency's commitment to defending state policies, advancing carbon market linkage, and integrating carbon removal (CDR) into the state's cap-and-invest scheme.

Recent data from the ARB indicates that California's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 3.9 percent in 2024, even as the state's economy grew by 3.2 percent. Current emissions levels are 28 percent below the 2004 peak. This decline is largely attributed to the transportation sector, supported by the growth of zero-emission vehicles and renewable diesel. To date, the state has sold 2.7 million zero-emission vehicles and installed over 216,000 public and shared EV chargers.

To further climate goals, the Newsom administration has announced $2.7 billion for more than 150 transportation projects aimed at improving safety, multimodal transit, and climate resilience.