Vehicle omissions

California is doing a great job reducing greenhouse gas emissions — with one large exception. Our cars. According to new data from the California Air Resources Board, the state is doing an even better job at reducing greenhouse gas emissions than state leaders imagined was possible.

AB32, California’s 2006 trailblazing climate change law, called for the state to slash emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The air resources board’s data shows that we met that deadline in 2016, four years ahead of schedule.

But California’s emissions from transportation — a sector that includes cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships — has increased every year since the state pulled out of the depths of recession. In 2016, transportation emissions increased by 2 percent. There’s preliminary evidence that the numbers for 2017 may show an increase as well.

Since transportation accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector, those numbers have to change if California is going to meet its 2030 goals.

Sadly, it seems unlikely that the challenge will be met through technology alone. Electric cars still produce lots of emissions, and most Californians continue to drive conventional models.

What will work? Tougher fuel efficiency standards, which the Obama administration put in place and the Trump administration is actively seeking to roll back. A higher gas tax, like the one approved by the state Legislature last year. Neither of these solutions is easy, but both of them will be necessary if California is to continue its success in the fight against climate change.