Los Angeles has big plans to clean up its smoggy, traffic-filled image. This week, while Congress is only discussing the Green New Deal, Los Angeles is announcing a version of their own—an ambitious plan to transform itself in order to tackle climate change. Under the plan, LA plans to run on 55 percent electricity and stop using coal power entirely. Instead of repairing three natural gas power plants along the coast, it will shut them down. By 2036, it will get to 80% renewables. And by 2045, like the rest of California, it will run on 100% renewables. On the transportation front, the mayor’s office hopes to reduce the amount of time Angelenos spend driving, from an average of 15 miles a day now to 13 miles by 2025, and 9 miles by 2035. More significantly from a climate change emissions standpoint, the sustainability plan calls for increasing the percentage of electric or zero-emission vehicles in the city from 1.4% last year to 25% by 2025, 80% by 2035 and 100% by 2050. To get people into electric cars, the city is expanding its network of publicly-available chargers to 28,000 by 2028 and creating financial incentives for people to make the switch to electric cars. With the federal government slow to act on the threat of climate change, it’s reassuring to see that America’s biggest cities are moving swiftly to implement environmental solutions.
Los Angeles just announced its own Green New Deal
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