THE NET-ZERO BLOG
Climate policy analysis and updates from Sacramento
Addressing California's wood waste crisis
California is facing an unprecedented crisis whereby millions of tons of wood waste from wildfire prevention efforts are being piled and burned or left to decay in forests, increasing the state’s emissions and undermining broader forest resilience goals. Despite some progress towards establishing a circular economy to collect and process the residues into low-carbon products, these efforts have not kept pace with the scale of the problem. In this blog we examine the potential for California to deploy a portfolio of next-generation biomass technologies, including wood products such as mass timber, clean fuels such as hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel, and carbon dioxide removal.
Aligning GGRF with the 2022 Scoping Plan
California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) generates roughly $4 billion annually for appropriation by the Legislature to support the state’s climate goals. However, a majority of these investments were set and have been unchanged since 2014. As policymakers consider cap-and-trade reauthorization it makes sense to review current GGRF allocations in light of the latest available science. In this blog we evaluate the alignment between current GGRF allocations and the 2022 Scoping Plan. We find there is a significant mismatch – including that arguably none of the continuous appropriations (65%) are priority investments for the state’s climate goals.
Policy reforms to address California’s electricity rate crisis
California’s high electricity rates have to come into focus in recent weeks with affordability packages proposed by the State Legislature and Administration. These packages consider alternative ways to finance transmission infrastructure as one way to reduce costs. In this blog we provide context for these proposals by examining a suite of potential options to reduce electricity rates. We show how alternative financing strategies such as public financing or securitization can directly reduce utilities’ revenue requirement. We also highlight the potential for indirect strategies, including increased competition, reduced siting and permitting risk and public ownership of assets.
Great ideas and glaring omissions: Analyzing BCG’s California climate report
Although California has made significant climate progress, there is growing evidence of implementation barriers such as financing, procurement and permitting bottlenecks that are slowing clean energy deployment. In this blog we summarize recommendations from a recent Boston Consulting Group report to overcome these barriers and highlight three overlooked policies, including: the role of IOUs in slowing transmission deployment and ideas to overcome this delay; how increasing competition for transmission can increase speed and reduce ratepayer costs; and how alternative financing and deployment models such as public-private partnerships may be more effective for facilitating rapid and low-cost clean energy infrastructure delivery in California.
California’s carbon removal opportunity
SB 308 (Becker) would establish a world-first framework to deliver carbon dioxide removal at scale. In this blog post we highlight the key elements of the bill, how it could facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars in new federal clean energy investments and enable the state’s climate goals.
Barriers and opportunities to transmission in California
California’s ambitious goals to achieve 90% clean electricity by 2035 and 100% by 2045 hinge on whether the state can rapidly develop new transmission. In this blog post we analyze six key barriers and opportunities to developing this infrastructure, including siting and permitting, public financing, competitive solicitation, grid-enhancing technologies and advanced reconductoring, interregional transmission and issues related to offshore wind.