California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for identifying and tracking the State’s pathway to achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century.  To support this broader mission, CARB develops inventories of greenhouse gas emissions originating from both human industrial activities as well as emissions inferred from annual to decadal changes in statewide ecosystem carbon stocks.  The Nature Based Strategies Program is responsible for assessing the total carbon inventory of all of California’s Natural and Working Lands (NWL) This inventory accounts for all organic carbon stored in living and dead biomass, near-surface soils, and harvested wood products located within the State’s legal boundaries.

To determine how well California is on track to achieving its target of carbon neutrality by 2045, CARB must also incorporate and assess the effect that natural events (e.g.; wildfire, drought, and pestilence) and land management activities (e.g.; habitat restoration, farming, and timber harvesting) are having on the mass and composition of landscape carbon stocks over time.  The ability to link changing carbon stocks to both natural events and changing land management activities will be further useful to regional planning efforts regarding the preparation for and response to ongoing climate change.  It must be stressed that California’s objective for Nature Based climate action is NOT to maximize carbon stocks and sequestration, but to enhance the health and resilience of ecosystems and communities which will lead to more diversified, durable, and sustainable carbon stocks and sequestration rates. 

In addition to providing technical support for identifying and tracking California’s path to achieving carbon neutrality, CARB has worked with the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to set targets for implementing an extensive set of land management practices over the next 20 years that are collectively referred to as ‘Nature-Based Solutions’. Examples of Nature-Based Solutions include conducting prescribed fire and fuel reduction on burnable landscapes to minimize the risk catastrophic wildfires; restoring disturbed, damaged, or historically altered landscapes; and conserving existing habitat and biodiversity through more guided stewardship of high-priority natural and working lands.   While these targets have already been set, CARB is further responsible for standardizing the methods by which these land management activities are reported and otherwise tracked.

Thus, the primary objectives of the Nature Based Strategies Program are to:

• Develop, update, and report the Natural and Working Lands Carbon Inventory.
• Track and assess nature-based management actions on all of California's landscapes.
• Simulate the effects that current and planned land management activities will have on future carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Develop and inform climate and natural resource policies, programs, and decisions.
• Provide as needed expert assistance, advice, analyses, and recommendations regarding the stewardship of California achieving its goal of being carbon neutral by mid-century.