Late yesterday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released long-anticipated proposed updates to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), one of California’s core climate programs that generates roughly $4 billion in funding every year to clean up transportation pollution. Despite growing outcry from scientists, environmental justice voices, environmental groups, organized labor — and CARB’s own acknowledgment that the program is out of step with California’s pollution reduction goals — the proposed changes fail to deliver the fundamental changes needed. The new proposal largely doubles down on subsidies for combustion fuels like biogas and “renewable” diesel that pollute the air, rather than supporting zero-emissions solutions. It also takes a major step backwards from a prior agency draft which would have required airlines to account for the pollution from jet fuel.

“CARB’s amendments to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard acknowledge fundamental flaws with biofuels, but fail to fix the problem and even backslide in key arenas. These proposed changes show that CARB is not seriously tackling reforms to this incredibly dated program to make it actually work for California,” said Nina Robertson, attorney on Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign. “In the big picture, forces outside California threaten to throw roadblocks in our shift to zero-emissions and undermine the state’s authority to regulate tailpipe emissions, and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard stands out as a potent tool Governor Newsom and state regulators could use to ensure clean air in our future. It’s too bad Newsom and CARB have so far failed to capitalize on this opportunity and safeguard California’s path to clean air and an electric future by fixing the LCFS. The clock is ticking.”

The amendments come as California’s very authority to set stronger tailpipe emissions standards than the federal government’s is under attack in the courts from a bloc of conservative states, and Former President Trump has threatened to revoke California’s authority on “day one” of a potential second administration.

The California Air Resources Board recently withdrew its plans for meeting ozone standards in Southern California, and has so far refused to use the LCFS as part of a revised strategy to meet federal air quality standards for the state’s most populated region. Transportation is California’s most polluting sector, and the state’s path to clean air requires reining in tailpipe pollution and shifting the sector to zero-emissions.

California’s regulators still have time to fix this policy — the Board will consider comments on the amended rule before voting on it at a public hearing on November 8, 2024. Environmental groups are urging the Board to include vital revisions like capping subsidies for fuels made from crops like soy and corn and phasing out subsidies to polluting industrial dairies starting in the 2030s.

“It’s disappointing to see California regulators stuck in the 2000s when the LCFS was first created, but it’s not too late for the state to fix this broken program. We are glad that CARB has acknowledged the need to reign in biofuels and boost transit but much more is needed,” concluded Robertson.