{"id":97,"date":"2008-11-25T18:01:44","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T01:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/"},"modified":"2008-11-25T18:01:44","modified_gmt":"2008-11-26T01:01:44","slug":"ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/","title":{"rendered":"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3060242318_80122bcff7_m.jpg\"<\/a>Is AB-32 sustainable? The state\u2019s Legislative Analyst seems to think it\u2019s a valid question.<\/p>\n

A series of reports from the Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office<\/a> (California\u2019s version of the federal GAO<\/a>) casts doubt on the long-term viability of the nation\u2019s most ambitious attack on climate change.<\/p>\n

Just as the Governor was tuning up for his Climate Summit<\/a> last week, the LAO released a report questioning the economics of California\u2019s Global Warming Solutions Act, aka AB-32. The report <\/a>assails the assumptions and projections made by the Air Resources Board<\/a>, in estimating the effect of AB-32\u2019s implementation on the state\u2019s economy. The board’s “scoping plan” projects net annual savings of $16 billion.<\/p>\n

Among the LAO’s conclusions:<\/p>\n

\n

– The [ARB] plan\u2019s evaluation of the costs and savings of some recommended measures is inconsistent and incomplete. The plan does not reflect the costs and savings of all of the emissions reduction measures that it recommends.<\/p>\n

– Macroeconomic modeling results show a slight net economic benefit to the plan, but ARB failed to demonstrate the analytical rigor of its findings. Despite its findings\u2014slight, eventual overall benefit to the economy\u2014the macroeconomic analysis conducted by ARB provides little insight.<\/p>\n

– The findings are highly dependent upon key assumptions, and ARB has not performed an analysis to determine how sensitive the macroeconomic findings are to changes in the key assumptions.<\/p>\n

– The plan fails to lay out an \u201cinvestment pathway.\u201d Despite its prediction of eventual net economic benefit, the scoping plan fails to lay out an investment pathway to reach its goals for GHG emissions levels in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The LAO found that the lion\u2019s share of the economic benefit from AB-32 is presumed to spring from one emissions control measure, that\u2019s actually part of a separate law (AB 1493, passed in 2002). According to the analysis, implementation of the \u201cPavley regulations\u201d would account for 18% of the greenhouse gas reductions and 70% of savings and benefits attributed to AB-32 in the air board\u2019s scoping plan. That plan is likely scheduled for formal sign-off by the board in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

The report was not widely distributed but was contained in a letter to Assemblyman Roger Niello (R-Sacramento), who requested the analysis.<\/p>\n

All the angst over economic impact of AB-32 may be moot, given the findings of another recent LAO study<\/a>, which warned that we may not be able to put the darn thing into effect, anyway. The state is presently keeping the program alive by borrowing tens of millions of dollars from the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The LAO says the Schwarzenegger administration \u201chas failed to produce a sustainable, long-term funding plan for AB-32 implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is AB-32 sustainable? The state’s Legislative Analyst seems to think it’s a valid question. A series of reports from the Legislative Analyst’s Office (California’s version of the federal GAO) casts doubt on the long-term viability of the nation’s most ambitious attack on climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[34,67,256,435],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-business","tag-assembly-bill-32","tag-california-air-resources-board","tag-governor","tag-policy"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nState Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is AB-32 sustainable? The state's Legislative Analyst seems to think it's a valid question. A series of reports from the Legislative Analyst's Office (California's version of the federal GAO) casts doubt on the long-term viability of the nation's most ambitious attack on climate change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-26T01:01:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/files\/2008\/11\/3060242318_80122bcff7_m.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Craig Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@voxterra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Craig Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/\",\"name\":\"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-26T01:01:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-11-26T01:01:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323\",\"name\":\"Craig Miller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/dd8f4f4f978df3faac9db4c510939ea0\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Craig Miller\"},\"description\":\"Craig is a former KQED Science editor, specializing in weather, climate, water & energy issues, with a little seismology thrown in just to shake things up. Prior to that, he launched and led the station's award-winning multimedia project, Climate Watch. Craig is also an accomplished writer\/producer of television documentaries, with a focus on natural resource issues.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/voxterra\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/cmiller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag | Climate Watch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag | Climate Watch","og_description":"Is AB-32 sustainable? The state's Legislative Analyst seems to think it's a valid question. A series of reports from the Legislative Analyst's Office (California's version of the federal GAO) casts doubt on the long-term viability of the nation's most ambitious attack on climate change.","og_url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/","og_site_name":"Climate Watch","article_published_time":"2008-11-26T01:01:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/files\/2008\/11\/3060242318_80122bcff7_m.jpg"}],"author":"Craig Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@voxterra","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Craig Miller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/","url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/","name":"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag | Climate Watch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-11-26T01:01:44+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-26T01:01:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2008\/11\/25\/ab-32-hits-a-sustainability-snag\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"State Climate Strategy Hits a Sustainability Snag"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/","name":"Climate Watch","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323","name":"Craig Miller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/dd8f4f4f978df3faac9db4c510939ea0","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Craig Miller"},"description":"Craig is a former KQED Science editor, specializing in weather, climate, water & energy issues, with a little seismology thrown in just to shake things up. Prior to that, he launched and led the station's award-winning multimedia project, Climate Watch. Craig is also an accomplished writer\/producer of television documentaries, with a focus on natural resource issues.","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/voxterra"],"url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/cmiller\/"}]}},"template_type":null,"featured_image_type":null,"is_audio_post":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"affiliates","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/affiliates?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/programs?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"collections","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collections?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"interests","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/interests?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}