A Southern California agency responsible for regulating air pollution will receive a grant to amplify its efforts of reducing the region’s carbon emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) will receive a “Climate Pollution Reduction Grant” of around $500 million to be implemented in local projects.
The agency, which controls air pollution for Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, plans to use the grant to decrease Southern California’s carbon emissions by investing in electric transportation for the movement of goods.
Transportation is currently the largest source of carbon emissions in the region, with over 160 million metric tons of carbon emitted annually.
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“Over the next 25 years, these funds will help reduce 12 million metric tons of carbon emissions,” Vanessa Delgado, Chair of South Coast AQMD’s Governing Board, said, adding that the fund will help avoid 1600 tons of smog-forming emissions annually by “creating green jobs and fostering economic growth.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District was one of 25 grant recipients selected by the Biden Administration across local governments, all of which will contribute to the administration’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
In all, around $4.3 billion in grant prizes were awarded across the country to climate crisis combat-focused agencies.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District was the only project selected in California, and one of eight local individual agencies awarded the grant.
