California Air Resources Board

Funding Plan Goals & Priorities

CARB’s portfolio of incentive programs complements regulatory programs to reduce emissions and increase access to clean transportation. Each incentive program comes with its own requirements, emission reduction goals, and project eligibility criteria making the portfolio diverse and far reaching. Together, the entire portfolio addresses multiple goals, including: 

• Turning over legacy combustion fleets to achieve cost-effective, near-term emission reductions in support of State Implementation Plans, air toxics reduction goals, and community air protection goals.
• Accelerating the introduction and deployment of zero-emission technologies to meet California’s air quality and climate change goals.
• Improving access to and investing in clean transportation and mobility options for priority populations most impacted by pollution in support of equity and environmental justice goals.
• Supporting small owner/operator fleets’ transition to zero-emission in support of equitable investment goals.
• Supporting the transition to and adoption of more sustainable transportation modes to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to support sustainable communities.
• Expanding the supply chain for advanced technology components, the number of manufacturers choosing California as a home for manufacturing and leveraging private partnerships and investment to support the commercial viability of advanced technologies.
• Supporting economic recovery and growth to continue the momentum California has built towards becoming a hub for the manufacture and deployment of clean technologies, training and career pathways, supporting associated green jobs, as well as high-road jobs that provide sustainable wages and benefits, opportunities for advancement, and safe working conditions.

Clean Air Mandates, Goals, and Priorities

CARB’s 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan and 2020 Mobile Source Strategy conclude that a transition to zero-emission technologies and use of the cleanest, lowest carbon fuels and energy across all vehicle and equipment categories is needed to meet GHG, smog-forming, and toxic pollutant emission reduction goals. The 2016 California Sustainable Freight Action Plan identified the need for this transition as it relates to the freight sector. In addition, AB 617 (C. Garcia, Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017) establishes goals for reducing emissions of toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants in communities affected by a high cumulative exposure burden. Moreover, the Scoping Plan and 2022 Progress Report on California’s Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (SB 150 Progress Report) point to the need for adopting alternative modes of transportation wherever possible, including in priority populations. 

The clean air mandates, goals, and priorities driving the investments included in this Funding Plan document include:

• Accelerating the introduction and deployment of zero-emission technologies to meet California’s longer-term air quality, carbon neutrality, petroleum reduction, and climate change goals including that 100 percent of sales of new passenger vehicles and trucks in the state be zero-emission by 2035, all drayage trucks be zero-emission by 2035, off-road vehicles and equipment be zero-emission by 2035 where feasible, and all other vehicles in the medium- and heavy-duty fleet transition to zero-emission by 2045 as described in Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-79-2010.
• Incorporating equity principles and implementing the recommendations from CARB’s SB 350 study, Overcoming Barriers to Clean Transportation Access to Low-Income Residents (CARB’s SB 350 Guidance Document or Guidance Document).
• Reducing emissions of toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants in communities affected by a high cumulative exposure burden consistent with AB 617 goals.
• Ensuring that the state’s overall Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds investments meet or exceed the disadvantaged community, low-income community, and low-income household targets established in AB 1550 (Gomez, Chapter 369, Statutes of 2016) and maximizing the benefits to these communities and households as required by the 2018 Funding Guidelines for Agencies that Administer California Climate Investments.
• Supporting the Sustainable Communities Strategies consistent with SB 375 (Steinberg, Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008); exploring ways to take actions required to reduce VMT while also increasing access to clean transportation options and critical goods and services consistent with the SB 150 Progress Report.
• Reducing GHG emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 consistent with SB 32 (Pavley, Chapter 249, Statutes of 2016).
• Meeting the federal health-based ambient air quality standards for ozone and fine particulate matter.
• Reducing emissions of methane and black carbon to 40 percent and 50 percent, respectively, below 2013 levels by 2030 as called for in CARB’s 2017 Short Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy.
• Following and incorporating goals and priorities from relevant legislation and striving to exceed these goals wherever possible. Some of the key bills guiding the Funding Plan in addition to the ones listed above include SB 1275 (De León, Chapter 530, Statutes of 2014), SB 1204 (Lara, Chapter 524, Statutes of 2014), SB 350 (De León, Chapter 547, Statutes of 2015), SB 1403 (Lara, Chapter 370, Statutes of 2018), AB 2285 (Committee on Transportation, Chapter 100, Statutes of 2020), AB 841 (Ting, Chapter 372, Statutes of 2020), AB 794 (Carrillo, Chapter 748, Statutes of 2021), and SB 372 (Leyva, Chapter 639, Statutes of 2021).
• Continuing to address recommendations made in February 2021 by the State Auditor in California Air Resources Board: Improved Program Measurement Would Help California Work More Strategically to Meet Its Climate Change Goals (CARB Audit Report).