A regional partnership in Los Angeles has set the USA’s most ambitious zero emissions transportation targets to achieve a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) air pollution by the start of the 2028 Olympic Games.
Founded as an initiative by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP), the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and its partners have released the ‘Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap 2.0’, an ambitious plan to accelerate the deployment of zero-emissions electric cars, buses and trucks, and charging stations across the greater LA metropolitan region. Achieving the roadmap’s targets and call to action will result in cleaner air for Los Angeles residents and dramatically reduce the region’s transportation sector GHG emissions, going 25% beyond existing commitments tied to California state law and the Paris Climate Accord. An unprecedented multi-year partnership among local, regional, and state stakeholders to accelerate progress towards transportation electrification and zero emissions goods movement, LACI’s Transportation Electrification Partnership (TEP) has committed to developing policies and pilots in 2020 to achieve bold new targets for EVs, charging infrastructure, mode shift and zero emissions trucks.
For the second edition of the Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap, the TEP partners have committed to working individually and collectively towards the 25% goal through a three-pronged call to action to ensure:
- Electric vehicles account for 30% of all light-duty passenger vehicles on the road and at least 80% of all vehicles sold;
- That 20% of all trips in single occupancy vehicles shift to zero emissions public transport, bikes or other active transportation options;
- All public investments into surface vehicles and related infrastructure for goods movement will advance zero emissions solutions and that the I-710 is the first zero emissions goods movement corridor in the nation.
In all of this work, the TEP partners prioritise equity for disadvantaged communities that both lack access to first-mile/last-mile solutions, and disproportionately suffering from the health impacts associated with fossil-fuelled transportation. In response, TEP and LACI recently announced mobility pilot projects and investment of US$500,000 across four different disadvantaged communities across the LA region in neighbourhoods that lack adequate mobility options, with LACI startups delivering EV car-sharing and micromobility services in Pacoima, San Pedro, Long Beach and Huntington Park.
“We can’t turn the tide on the climate crisis until we work across sectors and city limits to put the brakes on dangerous pollution and kick our zero emissions transportation future into high gear,” said Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti. “Our Roadmap 2.0 charts a course toward a healthier region with a cleaner transit network, and draws up a blueprint for cities worldwide to follow, so all of us can invest in the smart policies and green energy that will strengthen our families’ well-being and quality of life for generations to come.
Matt Petersen, LACI’s president and CEO, added, “The bold targets we set together in the Zero Emissions Roadmap 2.0 are key to ensuring that we address the largest source of California’s GHGs and the region’s greatest source of air pollution: how we move ourselves and goods around the region. The TEP brings together the sectors we need to go further, faster together; we invite everyone to join us in achieving our ambitious targets and call to action.”
