Louisiana's Draft Climate Action Plan Published

Posted by admin on Dec. 31, 2021  /  Emissions & Fuel Economy, LA Climate Task Force  /  Subscribe 0

Draft Climate Action Plan published on December 3, 2021

The Draft Plan brings together all context sections, which underwent a comment period in the spring and another in the summer, and the Revised Portfolio, which underwent a comment period in the summer and again now. In this latest draft, a few sections (an Executive Summary, Benefits of Climate Action, and Next Steps) were added to provide connectivity across the plan and reflect recommendations of comments received.

Updated GHG Inventory for Louisiana

In order to have a proper baseline and understanding of our existing sources of GHG emissions, an analysis of where our GHG emissions are coming from was prepared by the LSU Center for Energy Studies. This updated analysis provides detail from activities across the economy about where Louisiana’s GHG emissions originate, where they are naturally absorbed from the atmosphere, and direction about how to approach GHG emissions reductions in a focused way.

According to the 2021 GHG Inventory, Louisiana’s GHG emissions are robust for its population size and GDP, comprising approximately 4% of the total U.S. emissions. In Louisiana, the industrial sector is the largest GHG emitter, followed by the transportation and power generation sectors. In contrast, the power generation and transportation sectors are responsible for the majority of emissions in the U.S. The Inventory noted that an increase in wetland and forest area may facilitate a reduction in overall GHG emissions, serving as a carbon ‘sink’ and achieving GHG reductions that rival those emitted annually by Louisiana’s power generation sector. Overall, the findings of this inventory suggest that industrial decarbonization is critical to achieve future GHG emission goals in Louisiana. (via https://gov.louisiana.gov/page/climate-initiatives-task-force )

Climate Action Plan

The Task Force’s Louisiana Climate Action Plan is due to be completed by February 1, 2022, and will contain an outline of the process undertaken by the Task Force to develop the recommendations in the plan, context on how climate change is affecting Louisiana and its people, and a portfolio of specific strategies and actions to meet the Task Force’s fundamental objectives and GHG reduction goals. Specific actions related to transportation are outlined in Strategies 9-12.

Below is a summary of the Strategies and their proposed Actions that we believe will be of interest to our transportation sector stakeholders:

Public Comment for Revised Draft Portfolio of Strategies and Actions

This draft portfolio was subjected to extensive Task Force and public review including conversations at public meetings, survey responses from advisory groups, formal public comments, and results from the EPS modeling tool. The December 3rd draft will be discussed by the Task Force at their December 16th public meeting and public comment will be accepted on it until December 31, 2021 through [email protected].  A round of final edits to the portfolio will be made and presented to the Task Force again in January before the final plan is sent to the Governor for his consideration on February 1, 2022.

Links:

• Updated GHG Inventory
• Governor's Climate Task Force information and documents

• Full Climate Action Plan: Draft Climate Action Plan (December 22, 2021)

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