Introduction
Friends of the Earth's Clean Cars Program is leading vital efforts nationwide to achieve aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles. Specifically, FoE's Clean Cars Program works to promote sustainable, alternative transportation options to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. The Program also focuses on shaping Calfornia transportation policy, given the state's historical role as a key incubator for federal policy on transportation and environmental issues.
California's success in reshaping its transportation policies will resonate nationwide, and potentially worldwide, as other states and nations follow California's lead. This next year will be critical in determining whether California successfully sets a course to achieve its transportation-focused greenhouse gas reduction targets.
We are actively engaging in four major regulatory processes in California that will increase corporate and governmental investments in clean alternative fuels and vehicles, drive innovative vehicle technologies, create alternative fuel choices, and improve vehicle fuel efficiency, reducing global warming pollution and improving air quality for decades to come. These proceedings include the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, CA's Clean Cars Program (i.e. the Zero Emission Vehicle Standard (ZEV II) and the Low Emission Vehicle Standard (LEV III)); the AB 118 Alternative Fuel and Vehicle funding process; and the California Public Utilities Commission's recent Order Instituting Rulemaking entitled To Consider Alternative-Fueled Vehicle Tariffs, Infrastructure and Policies to Support California’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Goals.
In 2010, the California Air Resources Board will strengthen state vehicle standards to ensure that consumers have cleaner choices for cars and trucks. Cleaner cars will make us less dependent on oil, save drivers money at the pump, make air healthier, and reduce the heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming. Friends of the Earth is actively conducting outreach to California municipalities and businesses to gain support for the strengthening of these standards. For more information on these standards and why they should be strenghtened, please see our fact sheet.
Our Clean Cars Program is working hard to:
Friends of the Earth is working to ensure that California, and the nation as a whole, fosters the development of sustainable alternative fuels and vehicles, such as plug-in electric vehicles. Numerous plug-in electric vehicle models are coming to market as early as next year, and billions of dollars in federal funding were recently passed for plug-ins as part of the new Obama administration's Stimulus Package. Please see our toolkit to build a plug-in promotion campaign locally: Plug-In the Nation: A Guide to Building a Market for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
Friends of the Eath is now working to make California, and the nation, "plug-in ready" by developing networks of solar fuel stations so our cars can be fueled by truly renewable energy -- the sun -- and achieve deep and immediate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
The San Francisco Bay Area is especially well placed to lead the nation as a model for vehicle electrification and has been identified by automakers and regulators as a key early-adopter region for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs). One potential barrier to widespread regional adoption of plug-ins, however, is the sometimes unclear, complicated, and non-uniform set of charging infrastructure permitting requirements. Streamlining and simplifying the permitting process for EV charger installations is an important first step in preparing the Bay Area for widespread adoption of plug-in vehicles, and therefore setting the stage for national adoption.
In response to this need, Friends of the Earth recently produced a report entitled A Survey of Bay Area Permitting Procedures for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure, which surveyed the status, or in many cases, the non-status, of Bay Area cities and counties' Electric Vehicle ("EV") charger permit processes. The report includes a series of recommendations for how local governments can streamline their permit procedures and expedite installation of EV charging infrastructure in the region. Please see a copy of the report here.
During recent years, FoE's Clean Cars Program has achieved outstanding victories in a variety of efforts on climate change and vehicle standards, including the following:
