Don’t let bureaucrats undermine California’s climate progress

OPINION – Right now, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is reworking a proposal that would strengthen the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)–a policy designed to lower emissions from transportation fuels. The new rule will raise the state’s goal for reducing carbon emissions from 20% to 30% by 2030. Is this a big challenge? Damn right it is, but lives are at stake.

In February, California’s Office of Administrative Law rejected this proposal, citing a lack of clarity. That decision, while procedural on its face, could delay clean air progress by months or years. Any significant changes to the rule will trigger another public comment period, pushing implementation further down the road, prolonging the exposure of California’s most vulnerable communities to toxic air pollution.

California has long been a testbed for climate leadership. We were the first state to launch an economy-wide cap-and-trade program, the first to require climate-related corporate disclosures, and the first to adopt tailpipe emissions standards stricter than the federal government’s. We have repeatedly chosen the harder path–prioritizing clean air, climate action, equity, and environmental justice over the status quo or compromise.

People first, climate-forward approach is not without controversy, it has consistently set the national standard for clean air. All of us are breathing easier because of what California has done.

Since its launch in 2013, the LCFS has fueled a credit trading system that incentivizes the production of cleaner alternatives like biodiesel and renewable natural gas. The logic is simple: fuels with lower carbon concentrations earn credits; dirtier fuels create deficits. If a supplier’s average falls short of the state benchmark, they must purchase credits or incur penalties.

The LCFS is one of California’s most effective tools for reducing emissions in the transportation sector, which is still the largest source of greenhouse gases in the state. The program has already helped drive billions in investment toward cleaner fuels like renewable diesel and biogas. Since the inception of the LCFS in 2011 carbon intensity in California has been reduced by 19.78 percent. Strengthening it is the logical and necessary next step.

Critics of the proposal point to the potential for gas price increases. But let’s be clear: fuel companies have had more than a decade to prepare for this. The oil industry has the tools and capital to comply. What they’re resisting is accountability, and they’re leveraging the public’s financial fear to do so.

The LCFS isn’t only about credits and deficits–it’s about clean air. This is not a moment for California to retreat. With federal climate protections unraveling, the state’s leadership is more important than ever. If we stall, we send a message–not just to polluters, but to the rest of the country–that ambition is negotiable and that equity can wait.

CARB must deliver a strong, timely, and an enforceable update to the LCFS immediately. Our environmental standards are more than regulatory targets–they are moral commitments to future generations and vulnerable communities sensitive to the consequences of delay.

Richard Katz represented the San Fernando Valley in the State Assembly for 16 years, including 10 as Chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee.