Tag Archives: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Climate Solutions, Observation

Los Angeles Aims For 25% Less Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 2028: Electric Vehicles Are The Key

LA Takes Tackling Smog and CO2 Emissions Seriously

Technology leaders from the city of Los Angeles recently announced what they are calling the Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0. In this outline, the leaders propose a plan by which the bustling metropolis reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% within the next eight years—an ambitious and unprecedented goal that outdoes both the California State and Paris Climate Accord proposals.

Los Angeles is known as a progressive place, filled with creative people willing to adapt to new ideas and fight for just causes. Nevertheless, the SoCal city is also known for its soul crushing traffic. Even with four million residents, finding an Angelino without reason to complain about the town’s constantly congested crisscrossed freeways and lack of reliable public transportation is nearly impossible.

The Californians who devised this plan were not unaware of LA’s traffic issues. Since Many of them live in the city, these tech leaders can tell from the air pollution alone that vehicles are Los Angeles’ heaviest contributors to carbon emissions. If they are serious about their plan, which appears to be the case, then they will have to do something fast about all the cars and trucks smogging up the roads.

The obvious solution would be to create a more effective mass transit system in Los Angeles. However, with an infrastructure unfit for trains and countless failed attempts to move LA drivers onto buses, such a change is unlikely to catch on now. Instead, the planners are looking to the future of electric vehicles for a possible answer to the city’s pollution problems.

The Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0 focuses heavily on LA’s transition towards EVs. Specifically, by 2028, the plan aims for EVs to account for 80% of all vehicles sold in the city. Simultaneously, it wants LA and the surrounding area to create more EV-compatible infrastructure and zero-emission goods, rebranding the City of Angels as the EV Capital of the World.

City Proposed Solutions as Federal and State Level Options Failed

Of course, not all vehicles emit equally. If Los Angeles wants to achieve its goal by 2028, then it first needs to attack the heavy-duty, gas-guzzling vehicles—buses and trucks. Luckily, as of this year especially, there are many plus-sized EVs for the city to choose from. Tesla recently released the Cybertruck, and many even larger zero-emission vehicles are on the way from a wide variety of car and truck manufacturers. The California Air Resource Board is even proposing an Advanced Clean Truck regulation, which would require one out of every five trucks sold in the state by 2030 to be zero-emission models. 

Earlier this year, however, the state of California lost a battle against the Trump administration (as well as a few car manufacturers) for the right to set its own emissions standards. While the Golden State was denied the right to hold itself to a higher ecological standard than the federal government mandates, individual cities have a little more wiggle room. Therefore, Los Angeles is not just creating these standards for itself; it is hoping that these efforts will inspire other municipalities in California and around the nation to follow suit. If the federal government will not solve the problem, and the state governments are barred from taking action, then perhaps it is up to the local governments to evoke change from the bottom up.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is in full support of the plan. Known to be an environmentally sensitive politician, Garcetti proposed a Green New Deal to the city back in April, outlining ways for LA to combat climate change. The Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0 is therefore in his wheelhouse, as it accelerates the already ambitious conservation goals set out in the previous proposal. Also supporting the plan are the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and the Transportation Electrification Partnership (TEP) as well as private sector partners Tesla, BMW, Audi, BYD, Greenlots, and Proterra.

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Business, Climate Solutions

Former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson on Trial for allegedly Deceiving Investors about Climate Change

After their Destructive Secret was out, Exxon Mobil had yet to face Accountability until Now

It is no secret that Exxon Mobil hasn’t been the kindest to the planet over the years. The big oil company is one of the nation’s most prominent gasoline providers, and fueling automobiles is the world’s leading purpose for fossil fuel burning and the foremost cause of greenhouse gas emissions. 

For years Exxon has gone unchecked for the environmental damage they have done as a company—after all, they were never really doing anything illegal. However, former Exxon Chief Executive Officer and U.S. Secretary of State under President Trump, Rex W. Tillerson is currently in hot water. The man is facing two legal battles, one in New York and one in Massachusetts, for allegedly lying to investors about the risks and impacts of global warming.

The Case Casts the Primary Offense towards their Investors, not the Environment

At last, Tillerson may be held accountable, but these are not environmental trials per-se. Instead, they are hitting the oil tycoon where it really hurts: his wallet. And the cases are not about compensating for ecological destruction, but something far more pertinent to those who navigate the corporate world: money.

In both New York and Massachusetts, Tillerson is accused of knowingly providing investors with false information about the climate crisis. Reportedly, Tillerson sold climate change as underwhelming, insignificant, and perhaps even good for business. Meanwhile, he depicted Exxon Mobil as a champion of environmentalism. While the company does do some philanthropy in that area, these statements clearly omit some essential details, namely that Exxon does far more harm than good for the natural world.

It may be a Fraud Case, but Tillerson’s Case could be a First Step towards an Environmental Win

Thus, the trial is really just a fraud case, a dry instance of one person deceiving another for financial benefit. These cases happen all the time and usually do not garner much attention. Given Tillerson’s prominence, though, and Exxon’s dodgy history in the battle against climate change, this particular fraud case has made some noise. While Tillerson argues that the press attention is unnecessary, pandering, and based on corporate stigma rather than facts, many environmentalists are happy to see a big oil company put on the stand and questioned about its impact on the planet.

At the end of the day, the trial is mainly about money, but the larger implications of Tillerson having to answer for Exxon’s climate denial involves something much more significant. Trojan-horsed as a fiscal wrongdoing, Tillerson’s current predicament stands as a testimony to environmental justice and shows that rich business executives are not immune to consequences.

If all this is confusing, that’s probably because major corporations usually try to mask these muddy legal situations with jargon and loopholes in order to maintain their quality public images. Right now, however, Tillerson may be caught in a trap, and Exxon’s lies, deceits, and blatant disregard for scientific accuracy are finally becoming apparent in black and white, even if what really brought him to the stand is printed in green.

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