Fulfilling the Promise of Paris: the California CARBON Act

Combating climate change does not have to be divisive. Indeed, it should be a unifying issue that brings people together through shared, multi-benefit solutions. The Paris Accord underscored the importance of working with nature to restore and promote productivity and resilience to our forests, watersheds, farms, and wetlands as a natural solution, and one which benefits rural and urban communities alike. This is an approach promoted by the Pacific Forest Trust and one reason why we remain firmly committed to helping fulfill the goals of the Paris agreement.

A case in point is the recent success of the Pacific Forest Trust-sponsored Assembly Bill 1433, the Climate Adaptation and Resilience Based on Nature Act (CARBON). Authored by Assembly Member Jim Wood, the bill passed the Assembly on a 62-12 vote with strong bipartisan support.

The CARBON Act recognizes the critical role that restoring and conserving our forests and other lands must play in mitigating climate change. The bill was envisioned as a vehicle to highlight the role of natural and working lands, promoting their dual mitigation and adaptation functions. It also creates a unified, integrated, cross-departmental approach to channel resources generated by California’s cap-and-trade program (the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund) into forests and other lands. In addition, this bill enables the state to improve coordination of the multiple investments it makes in forests and other lands, resulting in a more comprehensive and synergistic process that meets climate, water, and adaptation goals.

Investments in forests and other lands pay off—for climate change mitigation, for clean water, and for the resilience of rural communities. Conserving and improving management of forests, especially older forests, dramatically increases carbon sequestration. Working with forests is also among the most cost-effective climate mitigation investments we can make. And, investments in rural working lands, where  some of the highest poverty rates in the state and nation can be found, have major social benefits. As we ramp up to meet the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets, deploying the natural tools to meet our goals is even more critical. Yet, so far, natural and working lands have received less than 3% of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) expenditures.

Forests and other lands are one of the five pillars of California’s plan to reduce carbon emissions but are woefully under-funded in relation to their climate benefits. To address this, the CARBON Act, as introduced, sought to secure a significant and proportionate amount of the GGRF spending—one fifth, or 20%, placing investments in this sector on par with those in other key emissions sectors, such as energy and transportation. As with all bills dealing with GGRF-related expenditures, this provision was stripped out, as the legislature continues to debate the cap-and-trade program. Nonetheless, with the CARBON Act, forest investments will be on a better footing to leverage GGRF funding.

The bill now moves to the Senate. Having strong bipartisan support for practical, multi-benefit climate action that benefits all Californians across the urban-rural divide is a major accomplishment in and of itself. Forests and other lands, and the people who steward them, have been brought to the forefront in the discussion of climate change solutions in California, where they belong.