Advancing California's Climate Ambitions: A Conversation with CARB’s Liane Randolph

Liane Randolph, Chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), highlights In this VXNews interview the significant strides made in transitioning towards zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) in various weight classes, from light-duty to heavy-duty trucks, as well as encouraging developments in hydrogen and electric ferries. Despite challenges in reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT), Randolph emphasizes CARB's strategy to support transit and innovative mobility solutions, such as community-based e-bike programs. Also touched upon is the importance of charging infrastructure for medium and heavy-duty trucks, the role of utilities in meeting energy demands, and the ongoing collaboration with environmental justice groups and international partners like Quebec. Overall, Randolph underscores the necessity of collective collaboration and strategic planning to achieve California's ambitious climate goals and for advancing sustainable transportation initiatives

TPR
Liane, in our last interview of you in 2022, you shared your thoughts around tackling climate change concluding California needs to increase our “collective ambition”. Has CARB and California’s regulatory leadership done so since 2022?

Liane Randolph
We are pushing innovation in so many sectors. In terms of transportation, we are the mobile source emissions regulator for the state of California and other states that follow us. We have spurred an incredible light-duty vehicle market that is now moving towards a robust medium and heavy-duty market. There are battery electric vehicles in all weight classes from delivery vans all the way up to class eight trucks. There are hydrogen trucks out on the road now. We're seeing the goods movement sector move toward zero emission, and now our rules are spurring innovations in harbor craft and locomotives. A few days ago, I was out on the San Francisco Bay, and San Francisco Bay Ferry showed me their hydrogen ferry in their fleet, and they are about to order new electric ferries.

TPR
CARB has been advancing discussions related to the need to reduce vehicle miles travel (VMT), but there's little evidence that there’s been a material reduction. Could you share the California Air Resources Board (CARB) current strategy and what “success” looks like?  

Liane Randolph
Moving people around the state in sustainable ways is a huge challenge. We need to encourage and support transit and we need to support more creative ways of getting around. We recently participated in a new program in South LA providing funding to allow residents to share e-bikes to get around their communities in sustainable ways. Our Clean Mobility Options Voucher Pilot Program and the Sustainable Transportation Equity Project encourage community-based solutions for moving around without burning fossil fuel and clogging roadways.

TPR
If the State doesn't meet its VMT reduction goals, how does it achieve its overall targets/mandates? 

Liane Randolph
The scope of the Scoping Plan – our plan for achieving California’s greenhouse gas reduction targets – requires progress in every one of these sectors. In transportation, we are relying on both reduced VMT and transitioning to cleaner modes. 

TPR
Recent reporting discusses moving backwards on EV adoption by the public. Tell our readers about those challenges, the Scoping Plan, and the state goals.

Liane Randolph
It’s important to note that there hasn't been a slip back - it's just a slower increase. EV adoption continues to grow both in California, nationally, and worldwide, but other countries are rapidly moving past us. I recently visited with the Crown Prince of Norway -their EV adoption is over 90%- so we really want to catch up with other countries, and we are working towards that. The increase is not happening at the fever rate it was a few months ago, but like with any consumer market, it experiences ups and downs. So long as we are continuing that upward trajectory, I think we will meet our regulatory targets.

TPR
Update our readers on the State’s charging infrastructure for medium and heavy-duty trucks and share what the incentives are to accelerate deployment.

Liane Randolph
We are working closely with our sister agencies like the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to get that infrastructure deployed in the right place at the right time. We continue to provide incentive funding and the CEC continues to distribute that funding through their EnergIIZE program (https://www.energy.ca.gov/proceeding/energy-infrastructure-incentives-ze...) for heavy duty infrastructure. In the light-duty space, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funding in California will soon be rolling out for additional DC fast chargers.

The Public Utilities Commission has started the Freight Infrastructure Planning Program, which thinks multiple years ahead to work with utilities to identify where upgrades to accommodate goods movement and charging will be needed, and then plan for that. 

TPR
Share CARB’s initiatives to encourage new infrastructure re drayage trucks and other related opportunities to accommodate zero emission trucks at the State’s ports. 

Liane Randolph
We continue to work closely with the air districts and the ports to encourage them to provide the right infrastructure and ecosystem to accommodate the need for the drayage fleet. There are many business models to ensure that zero emission trucks will be available. Some of the large logistics companies like MFI and Schneider Trucking have developed their own plazas. You also see companies developing a market for those individual drivers or smaller companies. We’re going to need all that creativity and innovation to meet the needs that we have in the goods movement sector. 

TPR 
Are the State’s utilities presently capably of supplying the energy needed to meet State goals? 

Liane Randolph
I think utilities have been working hard to try to meet this demand to varying degrees of success. Some folks have requested upgrades that are going to take a long time. They are trying to deploy a strategy of having customers think about where there's already capacity on the grid and daylighting, meaning putting that on their website. People should understand where the potential opportunities are. We are also working with customers to think about combining short term upgrades with battery storage or other demand management strategies, to think creatively to meet customer demand. This is important because adoption is happening quickly, and customers want to get going. That willingness to meet their needs is going to help us achieve our goals.

TPR
How is opposition from some of the environmental justice groups to carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS) impacting the deployment of that technology?

Liane Randolph
CCS is still in its early days. I think a key is that individual project proponents work with communities to see if their needs can be satisfied. Ultimately, it’s all about how a project fits into the community, what are the community benefits and what jobs it can provide. That is the project proponent’s responsibility to show those communities. Not every project is going to get 100% support from all stakeholders, but I think there's a huge opportunity for projects to show the benefits they can provide.

TPR
In May, you will be joining us at the VerdeXchange conference in LA, along with a Quebec delegation. With California and Quebec having a long aligned relationship around carbon trading, are you confident of that relationship continuing and perhaps expanding. 

Liane Randolph
We continue to work very closely with Quebec, and our markets are officially linked. On the horizon, we are thinking about a linkage with other jurisdictions, like the state of Washington. Linking markets is an incredibly complicated process that takes analysis and time to understand if that linkage is beneficial to the program or not. Our 2022 Scoping Plan showed that changes may be necessary to meet our carbon neutrality goals. 

TPR
Lastly, Liane.. could you address the challenges of regulatory collaboration – the level of collaboration needed for California to meet it’s ambitious climate goals.

Liane Randolph
The collaboration and cooperation we have now is incredibly strong, from a leadership and staff level. For example, at CARB we have a staff person whose job is to coordinate the conversation around EV infrastructure. The Energy Commission has infrastructure, from a regulatory and incentive standpoint, and there is CPUC’s Investor-Owned Utilities infrastructure program, but the reality is that we must all be in constant communication and coordination across agencies to ensure the infrastructure needed to support our zero-emission vehicle rulemakings is deployed.