Amid the big headlines about tax overhaul and wildfires in a season already full of holiday distractions, you would be forgiven for not noticing that California advanced an important climate initiative: the 2017 Climate Change Scoping Plan.

Now that the 2017 blueprint is approved, the hard road of implementation lies ahead. And that includes making sure that California’s climate mitigation efforts don’t have unintended impacts on vulnerable communities.

“Scoping Plan” you wonder? Few people have ever heard of the Scoping Plan, although this is California’s third. The state Air Resources Board adopted the extensive 2017 version to outline California’s climate policy path to 2030 and detail how it will fulfill its landmark legislative mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Developing a strong roadmap is important not only here but across the country and beyond because of California’s global leadership role as a climate policy incubator and best practice exporter.

So what is it and what does it contain? Put simply, this document “scopes” out California’s “plan” to meet our climate targets.

Read the full article on California's Scoping Plan by Andy Wunder at TriplePundit