California launches unprecedented targets to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045

California on Monday released a first-of-its-kind plan to harness more than half of the state’s land to decrease carbon emissions.

Over the next two decades, the state will work to accomplish 81 nature-based goals that serve to help achieve California’s target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045.

These solutions, which will strive to support the capacity of lands to absorb more carbon than they discharge, are part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) broader California Climate Commitment plan.

“We’re setting aggressive and ambitious new targets to use California’s lands to fight the climate crisis,” Newsom said in a statement.

Chief among the specific goals announced Monday is the management of 33.5 million acres to reduce wildfire risk, mostly through beneficial fire, such as prescribed or cultural burnings.

Another 11.9 million acres of forest has been designated for biodiversity protection, carbon storage and water supply protection, while another 7.6 million acres will be conserved with other protections.

Also included in the targets is the management of 3.4 million acres of croplands to boost healthy soils, drought resilience and below-ground biodiversity, as well as the planting of 4.2 million trees planted to remove carbon and increase access to nature.

The plan also allocated 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral for carbon storage management, resilience and habitat connectivity.

Another 1.6 million-acre swath is expected to help restore native grasslands and protect biodiversity.

Lastly, the plan includes 1.5 million acres of sparsely vegetated lands, such as deserts and beaches, to protect fragile ecosystems.

Newsom touted the “scale of action” of California’s plans as “unprecedented,” stressing that the targets will restore and conserve lands, while “greening our urban spaces and treating more acres to prevent wildfires.”

“We’re protecting nature and allowing it to work for our communities,” the governor added.