California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for identifying and tracking the State’s pathway to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century. To support this broader mission, CARB develops inventories of greenhouse gas emissions originating from human industrial activities as well as emissions inferred from changes in statewide ecosystem carbon stocks. CARB is responsible for assessing the total carbon stock inventory of all of California’s Natural and Working Lands (NWL). NWL includes all forests, shrublands, grasslands, croplands, wetlands, developed lands, and any other lands statewide regardless of ownership. CARB’s nature-based strategies are focused on landscape, regional, and otherwise larger scale wholistic perspectives of NWL and are not focused on individual projects or individual plots of land. CARB’s nature-based strategies account for all organic carbon stored in living and dead biomass, near-surface soils, and harvested wood products located within the State’s legal boundaries.

To estimate the contribution that natural and working lands make toward achieving California’s target of carbon neutrality by 2045, CARB must assess the effect that natural events (e.g., wildfire, drought, and pests) and land management activities (e.g., restoration, agricultural practices, development, and timber harvesting), as well as all  natural processes like photosynthesis and decomposition, are having on carbon stocks over time. This work helps inform land management, funding, and accelerates nature-based climate action. California’s objective for nature-based climate action is not to maximize carbon stocks and sequestration, but to enhance the health and resilience of ecosystems and communities which will lead to more diversified, durable, and sustainable carbon stocks and sequestration rates.

CARB works with other state and federal partners, and the public, to set carbon targets for NWL using state of the science data and models. This work in turn informed Nature Based Solution Targets announced by Governor Newsom on April 22, 2024. These annual targets include climate action on all lands statewide for the next 20 years and when achieved will bring our NWL back to a healthy and resilient state and help to create more durable, diversified, and sustainable carbon stocks. Examples of Nature-Based Solutions include conducting prescribed fire and fuel reduction on burnable landscapes to minimize the risk catastrophic wildfires; restoring disturbed, damaged, or historically altered landscapes; and conserving existing habitat and biodiversity through more guided stewardship of high-priority natural and working lands. While these targets have already been set, CARB is further responsible for standardizing the methods by which these land management activities are reported and otherwise tracked.

Objectives of CARB’s nature-based strategies include:

• Develop, update, and report the Natural and Working Lands Carbon Inventory.
• Track and assess nature-based management actions on all of California's landscapes.
• Simulate the effects that land management activities, fire, and climate will have on future carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Develop and inform climate and natural resource policies, programs, and decisions.
• Provide as needed expert assistance, advice, analyses, and recommendations regarding progress towards achieving California’s goal of being carbon neutral by mid-century.