On tonight’s State of the Bay, we’ll discuss California’s role at the just-concluded United Nations Climate Conference (COP 28) and dig into what the agreement to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels might mean for Bay Area refineries. Plus, we’ll take a tour through the WPA murals of Coit Tower.
First, we’ll talk with Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, representing California’s 16th Assembly District in the East Bay, about the role of California and the Bay Area in this year’s COP.
Then, we’ll look at how the agreement reached at COP 28 to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels might mean for Bay Area refineries. Joining us will be:
- Ann Alexander, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council
- Greg Karras, independent consultant, senior scientist for Communities for a Better Environment and author of “Decommissioning California Refineries: Climate and Health Paths in an Oil State.”
Finally, we’ll take a tour through the WPA murals at San Francisco’s Coit Tower with Charlie Goldman.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are major polluters in the region but also potential models for climate action — if they can electrify their equipment, from fork lifts to cranes. A new report released by UCLA Law’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) —A Heavy Lift: Policy Solutions to Accelerate Deployment of Zero-Emission Cargo Handling Equipment at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and Beyond—surveys the biggest obstacles to speedy electrification and makes some recommendations.
Greenhouse gas emissions at the Ports come from three main sources: ships, heavy-duty vehicles, and cargo handling equipment (“CHE”). Cargo handling equipment is the third largest source of emissions accounting for approximately 14 percent of the Ports’ total greenhouse gas emissions. The Ports have replaced some fossil-fuel powered equipment with zero-emission models as they work toward goals set forth in their Clean Air Action Plan, including a goal to transition to 100 percent zero-emission CHE by 2030. However, more work is needed to fully transition the Ports large CHE fleet to zero-emission models. While some consider cargo handling equipment the “low hanging fruit” of port emissions reductions, there remain challenges for the transition to zero emissions. Some of the needed ZE technology is still being developed, and communities and workers have raised concerns around the potential for job loss.
To address these concerns, the law schools hosted a convening of experts from a variety of industries, including environmental, public health, environmental justice, labor, business, and government sectors. We discussed the challenges and opportunities of decarbonizing cargo handling equipment at the Ports. The report discusses the top barriers to transitioning to electric CHE models and proposes solutions to overcome these barriers.
The report dives into the following barriers:
- Inadequate grid and charging infrastructure to support zero-emission cargo handling equipment and lack of substantial planning and funding to install necessary and timely infrastructure.
- Evolving zero-emission technology for some types of cargo handling equipment and high upfront costs.
- Fear among communities and workers of job loss and of increased emissions from expanded port activities.
The report then recommends several solutions, including:
- The Ports and utilities, chiefly Southern California Edison and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, could proactively deploy “no regret” infrastructure, including increasing grid capacity and upgrading distribution networks that will be needed regardless of how zero-emission cargo handling equipment is powered.
- The California Legislature; the Air Resources Board; and/or the South Coast Air Quality Management District, using their existing authority grounded in air pollution control, could create technology-forcing mandates and clear, enforceable implementation deadlines, with penalties for non-compliance, to catalyze the zero-emission cargo handling equipment transition. Where technology is not readily commercially available, regulations could incorporate adequate flexibility and sufficient lead time for entities to meet the mandate.
- State and local government could implement policies to promote job preservation, local job creation, and worker training, such as programs that encourage ports and terminal operators to partner with local training organizations to upskill and reskill the workforce to use the new vehicles and technologies.
Given the importance of the Ports to worldwide commerce, they could help inform climate action at ports around the globe, if they and policy makers can collaborate to achieve these zero-emission goals.
If you want to dive into this topic further, join us for a webinar discussion today, Thursday, November 16th at 1pm PT when we’ll discuss solutions with panelists from Southern California Edison, the Port of Los Angeles, and Earthjustice (RSVP here).
This report is ultimately part of a series on business solutions to address climate change. Read more: A Heavy Lift: Policy Solutions to Accelerate Deployment of Zero-Emission Cargo Handling Equipment at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and Beyond.
This post was co-authored by Beth Kent and Gabi Rosenfeld.
We need electric vehicles to fight climate change, and that means a lot of mining for minerals like lithium and graphite for the batteries. It’s better if that mining happens in the US rather than overseas, where worker and environmental protections may be weaker. But we still need to improve mining processes here.
My new op-ed in The Hill has recommendations on how to do so, following the release of a new federal interagency report on mining. The report calls for permitting agencies to conduct better upfront planning to ensure new mining activity is not sited in sensitive areas that would likely produce conflict, litigation and delay. To do this, I argue:
Specifically, the country can take its cue from California, where a public-private partnership among state government, academic institutions and nonprofits pioneered a stakeholder-led process to map lands for large-scale solar development in key regions in the state. That process resulted in the identification of hundreds of thousands of “least conflict” acres, which participants as diverse as Tribes, ranchers, endangered species advocates and developers agreed would be feasible to develop without harming communities or important resources. This approach is now being replicated in other states.
If we can pull this process off in this country, the result would be fewer conflicts, a more sustainable supply chain for EV batteries, and economic and environmental wins for the communities surrounding mines, including many tribal and rural communities. And maybe it could provide a model for other jurisdictions to follow suit, as the world undergoes a dramatic and badly needed transformation in its vehicle fleet to EVs.
On today’s Your Call One Planet Series, I’ll be guest hosting and talking to University of Pennsylvania renowned climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann, presidential distinguished professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science and director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media.
He will discuss his new book, Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis. In this sweeping work of science and history, Mann shows us the conditions on Earth that allowed humans not only to exist but to thrive, and how they are imperiled if we veer off course.
Then we’ll discuss Water for Life, a documentary film that tells the story of three Indigenous activists in Central and South America, fighting to protect their ancestral lands and water rights.
The film follows Alberto Curamil, a Mapuche chief in Chile; Francisco Pineda, a corn-grower in El Salvador; and the late Berta Cáceres, of the Lenca in Honduras, as they face jail and murder while leading movements to safeguard their drinking water and irrigation water from multinational corporations and corrupt governments. Joining us will be:
- Will Parrinello, award-winning documentary filmmaker and the director of Water for Life
- Sarah Kass, award-winning storyteller specializing in long- and short-form documentaries and non-fiction television, and producer of Water for Life
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
On today’s Your Call, I’ll guest host a discussion of the health hazards of wildfire smoke. Last week, the San Francisco Bay Area experienced its first taste of this year’s fire season with the Air Quality Index numbers soaring into a range deemed unhealthy for the general population.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), wildfires are bigger, more severe, and more common today in the western United States than at any time in the last four decades. The recent fires in Maui that destroyed 80 percent of the seaside town of Lahaina are just the most recent tragic example. In California, nearly half of the state’s largest fires on record occurred in the past five years.
But immediate destruction from wildfires is only part of the picture. Wildfire smoke can have lasting impacts on human health. A new study from Lancet Planet Health found that smoke from the world’s worsening wildfires is now killing 33,510 people every year. It not only exacerbates respiratory illnesses like asthma, but is also linked to increased risk of cancer, heart attacks, and preterm birth.
So what can we do to keep ourselves safe as wildfires rage on? Joining me will be:
- Quinn Redwoods, founder and director of Mask Oakland
- Julie Johnson, journalist, staff writer at San Francisco Chronicle’s climate and environment desk
- Dr. Neeta Thakur, associate professor of pulmonary and critical medicine at UCSF, medical director of the outpatient pulmonary clinic at San Francisco General Hospital, co-director of the Partnerships for Research in Implementation Science for Equity (PRISE) Center.
- Dr. Sheri Weiser, internist and professor of medicine in the HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine division at UCSF, co-founding director of the University of California Center on Climate Change, Health and Equity
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
It’s a double shot of me on KALW radio today, where I’ll be hosting Your Call at 10am PT and then State of the Bay at 6pm PT for our second edition of our climate special series.
First, on Your Call’s One Planet Series at 10am PT, we’ll discuss a joint investigation by The Washington Post and The Examination about how the food, beverage and dietary supplement industries are paying dozens of registered influencer dietitians to help sell products and deliver industry-friendly messages on social media platforms. Joining us will be:
- Sasha Chavkin, correspondent for The Examination
- Dr. Caitlin Gilbert, neuroscientist and Well+Being data reporter at The Washington Post
Then at 6pm PT on State of the Bay for our second climate special, you can hear my interview with with California Attorney General Rob Bonta about the state’s lawsuit against big oil for climate damages.
Then, many Bay Area cities have formally declared a climate emergency, but what does this mean, and what should it mean? We’ll discuss what tradeoffs and changes may be needed to address climate change in the Bay Area with:
And finally, we sit down with local educator, organizer, artist and activist, Khafre Jay to learn why he thinks the climate movement needs more Hip Hop.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT for Your Call and then again at 6pm PT for State of the Bay. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
The electric vehicle (EV) market is growing rapidly, but with this growth comes public pressure to ensure supply chains for EV batteries are sustainable. The soaring demand for batteries relies heavily on the extraction and refinement of critical minerals, processes that have far-reaching environmental and social impacts. Moreover, the global distribution of these operations leaves them susceptible to geopolitical instability, further complicating the supply chain.
At the same time, this growth in mining and manufacturing also presents an opportunity to avoid recreating the harms of past mining and industrial activities. While individual EV buyers have little leverage over the industry, fleet purchasers of EVs instead have an opportunity to use their combined market power to ensure upstream suppliers adhere to strong sustainability standards. Corporate fleets can wield their collective influence and purchasing power to drive change on a large scale.
With that market power in mind, our climate program at Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) has partnered with the nonprofit Ceres and its Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance (CEVA), a collaborative group of companies focused on accelerating the transition to EVs, to release a new report with recommendations for major corporate EV fleet purchasers for how they can help ensure supply chain sustainability.
Among other solutions, the report recommends that corporate actors looking to make EV fleet purchases:
- Join the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) in order to publicly demonstrate commitment to responsible sourcing; and add political momentum and end-user economic clout to IRMA’s efforts to engage and audit the mining industry
- Advocate for domestic mining reform that expands mining only as much as necessary while ensuring responsible environmental management and clean up as well as community and Tribal engagement
- Participate in extended producer responsibility schemes and build partnerships with second life and recycling entities.
- Advocate for federal policy to standardize EV battery labeling and traceability through an open-source, interoperable digital product passport with requirements designed to improve environmental and human impacts, carbon footprint, and end of life opportunities.
- Advocate for federal policy to standardize EV battery labeling and traceability through an open-source, interoperable digital product passport with requirements designed to improve environmental and human impacts, carbon footprint, and end of life opportunities.
While the report’s primary focus is on U.S. companies operating electric vehicle fleets, the information and recommendations can also benefit other companies involved in the EV supply chain. The goal is to highlight areas where corporate advocacy and procurement practices can have the most impact in promoting a sustainable EV industry.
Ensuring a sustainable EV battery supply chain—one that maximizes benefits for communities, industry, and the environment—will require long-term, coordinated action by stakeholders across the globe. Large fleets and major companies can leverage their purchasing power and engagement with industry to incentivize manufacturers and mining operators to prioritize sustainability and responsible practices. The recommendations in this guidebook offer a roadmap for corporate procurement practices, supplier engagement, and support for policies and initiatives that aim to make ethical sourcing and environmental stewardship the industry norm.
Access the full report here: Electric Vehicle Batteries: A Guidebook for Responsible Corporate Engagement Throughout the Supply Chain
This post is co-authored with Shruti Sarode and cross-posted on Legal Planet.
I’ll be a guest on KQED Forum today at 10am PT discussing congestion pricing — where cities charge drivers to enter congested areas during peak times, as a way to limit traffic and pay for transit. The show is part of Forum’s “In Transit” series where I’m a regular guest.
London, Stockholm and Singapore all use congestion pricing, but it has yet to be adopted in any U.S. city. Los Angeles is now studying the concept, and LA Metro will soon release a report examining which parts of the city could benefit most from congestion pricing.
Joining me on the show will be Mark Vallianatos, executive officer in the Office of Strategic Innovation, LA Metro.
You can stream live or tune in on KQED in Northern California.
This morning at 10am PT, I’ll be joining KQED’s Forum to discuss how California can make our roads and pathways safer for bicyclists. Biking is a more climate-friendly and healthy way to get around, but sharing space on California’s roadways with vehicles is notoriously dangerous and sometimes deadly. What can be done to make biking safer and encourage more people to ride?
Joining me on the panel will be:
- Jared Sanchez, policy director, California Bicycle Coalition
- Darwin Moosavi, deputy secretary for environmental policy and housing coordination, California State Transportation Agency
- Anthony Molina, chair, Fresno County Bike Coalition
Stream live at 10am PT or tune in at 88.5 FM KQED in the San Francisco Bay Area!
Then at 6pm PT, I’ll be hosting State of the Bay on KALW, where we’ll start by interviewing State Senator Scott Wiener about his bill SB 58 to decriminalize psychedelics in California.
Then I’ll interview former Oakland Athletics vice president Andy Dolich, author of Goodbye, Oakland, about the future of the team and sports in Oakland, given the team owners’ apparent decision to relocate to Las Vegas. Can Oakland find a way to keep their last major sports franchise from leaving?
Finally, we’ll hear all about the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s new satire, Breakdown.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
Can California become a global center for lithium production for EV batteries? How sustainable is the global battery supply chain? I’ll be a guest on KQED Forum today at 10am PT to discuss, as part of the show’s “In Transit” series.
Today, Australia, Chile and China are the top three sources of worldwide lithium production. But California’s Imperial Valley contains a vast underground reserve near the Salton Sea, with enough lithium potentially to meet all of U.S. future demand and more than one-third of global demand.
Along with me to discuss this potential will be Eduardo Garcia, Assemblymember, representing California’s 36th State Assembly District in eastern Riverside County and Imperial County.
Tune in on KQED radio or stream live at 10am PT!
