Senate Bill 375 (SB 375, Steinberg, Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008) requires ARB to set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for passenger vehicles and light trucks for 2020 and 2035. As part of the target setting process, SB 375 requires ARB to appoint a Regional Target Advisory Committee (RTAC), which will provide a recommendation to ARB on the factors and methods for consideration in target setting by September 30, 2009. In its draft recommendation, the RTAC recommends that ARB work with technical experts and practitioners over the next 4-6 months to develop and peer-review a list of land use and transportation policies and practices for reducing regional passenger vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, with opportunity for public input. ARB will begin the public process to develop this list in Fall 2009. The initial list will likely be extensive and include policies and practices for which empirical data may or may not currently exist. The RTAC also recommends that this list of policies and practices be incorporated into an analytical spreadsheet tool that could assess what greenhouse gas reductions may be possible by implementing some or all of the policies and practices identified in the list. The tool would assist in both near-term target setting and longer-term local planning and implementation.
In response to these recommendations, a team of researchers from the University of California proposes to provide technical support to ARB during its development and refinement of the list of policies and practices. Specifically, the UC researchers propose to: (1) identify which policies and practices on the list have supporting empirical data and evidence, (2) review and assess the evidence to provide conclusions on the degree of effect and other pieces of information (identified under tasks), and (3) provide easily understandable summaries of the review and conclusions, including degree of effect in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through VMT reduction. This support will occur in several phases as specified below.
Per this agreement, the research team will produce 1-2 page summary documents of their reviews for specific local land use or transportation policies from the policies and practices list, which have empirical data. The documents will discuss the evidence on associations between the policy, greenhouse gas emissions, and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and, as appropriate, any evidence on the strength of the association and direction of causality. They will be written in an understandable format which could be posted on the ARB website. Links to a small number (e.g., 3 to 5) of supporting articles and on-the-ground examples will also be provided. This research will begin in January 2010 and conclude in September 2010.
