LA City Council Considers Motion To Achieve Carbon Neutrality By 2030
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday will consider a motion that calls for city departments to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
If approved, the motion would instruct the city's departments to report back to the council before the end of 2022 on a "robust, world-leading plan to achieve the moon-shot goal of carbon neutrality without offsets in Los Angeles by 2030."
Offsets are a controversial approach to preventing climate change that involve governments, businesses or individuals compensating for the emissions they are putting into the atmosphere. This can include financing solar panels, restoring deforested areas, or capturing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.
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The city council voted on Sept. 1 to move up the deadline from 2045 to 2035 for the L.A. Department of Water and Power to transition to 100% renewable energy. The plan is expected to achieve 80% renewable energy and 97% carbon-free energy by 2030.
In April of 2019, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled what he called L.A.'s Green New Deal, ambitious new goals to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint by 2050.
Under the plan, by 2050, 100% of vehicles on L.A. roads would be zero-emission vehicles.
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