MARGARET SHUTTLEWORT | City News Service
LOS ANGELES – On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council is to consider a proposal calling for the city to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, 20 years ahead of the city’s current target.
If accepted, the proposal, which was jointly presented by councilor Nitya Raman and councilors Paul Koretz and Kevin de Leon, will instruct city departments to report to the council by the end of 2022 on a “robust, world-leading action plan. by 2030, achieve irrevocable carbon neutrality in Los Angeles with no compensation. “
Compensation is a controversial approach to mitigating climate change, in which governments, businesses or individuals offset the emissions they release into the atmosphere. This could include funding solar panels, rehabilitating deforested areas, or capturing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.
“There is no doubt that carbon neutrality without offsetting by 2030 is an ambitious future goal,” Korets said in a statement following the September 21 proposal. time – we must look directly at climate change, mobilize Los Angeles for equality and justice, neighborhood by district, sector by sector, and do not what is possible, but what is necessary to preserve life on our planet and its prosperity … If it means making the impossible possible and the desired, so be it. “
In creating the plan, city departments will be instructed to work with the Neighborhood Council Resilience Alliance, the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office and the LA Cool City Challenge team.
“(The Cool City Challenge Team) will help CEMO prioritize fair, inclusive mobilization across the city to ensure we build social cohesion and infrastructure to prepare Los Angeles for climate emergencies that are getting worse and creating new climate disruptions.” said Marta Segura, CEMO director. “Carbon neutrality by 2030 without offsets is the key to minimizing the climate chaos that is unfolding not only in Los Angeles, but around the world.”
The Cool City Challenge team is a group funded by the Institute for Empowerment that tackles climate change at a hyper-local level to educate people about water conservation, neighborhood resilience, and climate change mitigation.
The movement will also encourage the city to participate in the Cool City Challenge, and local councils will provide at least two Cool Block Leaders for each municipality to undertake climate change mitigation efforts at the hyperlocal level.
“We’ve spent years discussing climate policy as our planet is steadily warming up in the face of the existential crisis we face today,” Raman said. “Achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 without offsets can be daring, but I know that all of us who call Los Angeles at home are ready to work hand in hand with our neighbors to take on the Cool Cities Challenge. We have no more time to waste. “
On September 1, the city council voted to postpone the deadline to 2035 – from 2045 – to move the city’s water and energy department to 100% renewable energy. The plan is expected to achieve 80% renewable energy and 97% carbon-free energy by 2030.
“We need to redouble our efforts across the board to confront this global crisis and show other cities and states how to tackle climate change and protect their people,” de Leon said.
The City Council will consider the proposal at a meeting on Tuesday at 10 am. People can look at https://clerk.lacity.org/calendar.
