California has revealed an ambitious strategy to address the escalating climate crisis using one of its most valuable resources: its land.
Over the next two decades, the state aims to convert more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit landscapes that can sequester more carbon than they emit, officials announced on Monday. These nature-based solutions will encompass natural and working lands such as forests, farms, grasslands, chaparral, deserts, and urban environments.
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The unprecedented plan, part of Governor Gavin Newsom’s California Climate Commitment aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, includes 81 targets to leverage millions of acres across the Golden State.
“We’re establishing bold and ambitious new targets to utilize California’s lands in combating the climate crisis,” stated Newsom. “This level of action is unparalleled and yet another demonstration of California’s leadership. By restoring and conserving lands, greening urban spaces, and implementing measures to prevent wildfires, we are safeguarding nature and leveraging its benefits for our communities.”
Among the goals set for 2045 are 33.5 million acres to be managed to reduce wildfire risk primarily through fuel reduction activities and beneficial fire practices such as cultural and prescribed burns.
U.S. Forest Service firefighters in the Angeles National Forest burn piles of forest debris below Mt. Baldy in November 2023. Controlled burns are part of the service’s forest management practices.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
To achieve these targets, the state aims to conduct 1.5 million acres of wildfire risk reduction activity annually by 2030, increasing to 2 million acres by 2038, and 2.5 million acres by 2045, with a focus on forests, shrublands, chaparral, and grasslands that make up 67% of the state.
(For comparison, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection completed approximately 105,000 acres of fuel treatment, including 36,000 acres of prescribed burns in the 2023 fiscal year, according to agency data. The U.S. Forest Service completed around 312,000 acres of combined treatment and burns).
The plan also includes managing 11.9 million acres of forestland for biodiversity protection, carbon storage, and water supply protection by 2045, and 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral for carbon storage, resilience, and habitat connectivity, among other initiatives.
“California has had a robust environmental conservation movement, and we have been proactive in climate action, but we have not fully integrated nature into our climate agenda,” stated Wade Crowfoot, California’s Secretary for Natural Resources. “This represents a significant step forward in that direction.”
Crowfoot highlighted the growing recognition of nature-based solutions not only within the state but also on the global stage, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledging their vital role in ongoing efforts to stabilize the climate.
“This is about enhancing the health and resilience of our lands, whether they are forests, deserts, farms, or coastal areas,” Crowfoot explained. “Healthy, resilient lands are more effective at absorbing and storing carbon while minimizing emissions.”
The initiative was motivated by the findings of California’s 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality, which revealed that the state’s lands currently emit more greenhouse gases than they absorb, primarily due to wildfires that release carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
During the devastating 2020 fire season, California wildfires emitted approximately 127 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, nearly double the total CO2 reductions achieved since 2003.
“The shift from a carbon sink to a carbon emitter is largely a result of historical land use decisions and the consequences of climate change,” stated the governor’s office. “Modeling suggests that immediate and aggressive actions to enhance climate action on California’s lands will set the sector on a corrective path.”
Beaches are included in the state’s plan to use nature to mitigate climate change.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
This initiative follows Earth’s warmest year on record, prompting scientists and policymakers to raise alarms about the accelerating global changes exacerbated by fossil fuel emissions.
The planet is on the verge of surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming compared to pre-industrial levels, a critical threshold for averting the most severe impacts of climate change. These effects include escalating wildfires, intensified storms, prolonged droughts, and accelerated species loss.
Smog hangs in the air as the sun sets after a hot day in Los Angeles last fall.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Experts emphasize that reducing carbon emissions is crucial to curbing these worsening conditions. The current atmospheric carbon dioxide level of around 425 parts per million far exceeds safe thresholds.
“The science is unequivocal: Effectively transitioning our lands from carbon sources to carbon sinks demands urgent and decisive action, and delay will only make it more challenging,” stated Lauren Sanchez, Newsom’s climate advisor.
Other items outlined in the plan include managing 3.4 million acres of croplands for healthy soils, drought resilience and below-ground biodiversity, as well as conservation. This includes about 152,000 acres per year by 2030; 206,000 acres per year by 2038, and 209,500 acres per year by 2045.
Much of this work will include practices that sequester carbon and provide multiple benefits on working lands, such as increased water holding capacity and improved nutrient cycling, said Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
A tractor plows a field in the Cuyama Valley in Central California.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Indeed, agricultural emissions in the United States account for about 10% of the country’s emissions, according to the latest greenhouse gas emission inventory from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The California Air Resources Board estimates that in California, agriculture is the source of 8% of total inventoried greenhouse gas emissions.
“I know that with the continued investment, cooperation and partnerships that we’re building, we can continue to be a leader in the nation of putting these practices on the soil, and being [a] carbon sink,” Ross said.
The governor plans to plant thousands of trees in urban areas.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
But it’s not just agricultural land that will play a part in the state’s land-use transformation. The program also calls for 4.2 million trees to be planted across California, which will help remove carbon, combat heat and increase access to nature. Studies have shown that areas without trees can simmer several degrees hotter than their leafier counterparts, with poor neighborhoods often bearing the brunt of extreme temperatures.
Trees and vegetation also contribute to more permeable soil that creates more opportunities for water to seep into the ground and replenish groundwater aquifers that have been sapped by agriculture, drought and overuse.
In fact, many of the projects — which will span more than 40 state agencies, tribal partners and stakeholder groups — will have multiple benefits, said Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board. For example, healthier forests can mean healthier soils and water tables, as well as reduced wildfire risks and improved air quality.
The solutions were developed “not just to support carbon storage and help achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, but also for the much larger public health and environmental benefits that come with restored and sustained ecosystem health,” Randolph said. She added that the phased rollout of the targets means that many Californians will begin to see benefits long before the 2045 deadline.
The governor’s plan also includes 1.6 million acres of grasslands managed to restore native grasslands and protect biodiversity; and 1.5 million acres of sparsely vegetated lands — such as deserts and beaches — managed to protect fragile ecosystems. More than 230,000 acres of wetlands and seagrasses will be managed to protect water supply, deliver carbon benefits and buffer communities from flooding.
The cumulative targets amount to nearly 60 million acres across California by 2045, although it’s possible some projects will overlap, officials said.
There is currently no specific price tag attached to the work. The state only recently saw several of its key climate programs placed on the chopping block as Newsom seeks to close a massive budget deficit.
The work will “require significant investment and levels of action collectively,” acknowledged Amanda Hansen, deputy secretary for climate change with the Natural Resources Agency. However, she noted that according to the Scoping Plan, the cost for delivering on the targets is significantly less than the estimated costs for addressing emissions in fossil fuel sectors.
The targets are intended to help guide state policy and investment, Hansen said, and will work in conjunction with the Scoping Plan and with Assembly Bill 1757, a 2022 bill that required the state agencies to collaborate on setting targets for carbon sequestration and nature-based solutions. The Newsom administration has invested $9.6 billion in nature-based solutions since 2020.
Officials described the plan as “among the most comprehensive in the world” and said they believe it can act as a model for other states and regions.
“These climate targets are a big deal for California, for the nation, and for the world,” Sanchez said.
