The California Air Resources Board (ARB) will conduct a public hearing on 20 May to consider approving for adoption of the proposed Clean Miles Standard—the first proposed regulation to address environmental requirements for ride-hailing services specifically. (Earlier post.)

California’s Clean Miles Standard and Incentive Program of 2018 (SB 1014) directs CARB to adopt and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to implement a Clean Miles Standard (CMS) program to place environmental requirements on transportation network companies (TNCs) in California.

The specific requirements proposed in this regulation are two targets: an electrification target in the metric of percent eVMT and a GHG emission target in the metric of grams of CO₂ per passenger-mile-traveled (g CO₂/PMT).

The electrification and GHG targets start in 2023 at 2% eVMT and 252 g CO₂/PMT, respectively, and slowly increase in stringency to 90% eVMT and 0 g CO₂/PMT in 2030.

Electrification targets can only be met with electric miles driven with passengers in the car using a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or a fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV).

TNCs have several options for reducing company-wide GHG emissions to comply with the annual targets. These include improving fleet-wide fuel efficiency; reducing VMT by increasing shared rides; reducing VMT by reducing deadhead miles; and earning CO₂ credits by investing in active transportation infrastructure, or by providing integrated fare services to connect riders to mass transit.

The proposed regulation also includes requirements for annual data submittals, annual compliance reports, and biennial compliance plans.

Small TNCs delivering five million annual VMT or less statewide will be exempt from meeting electrification and GHG targets. Small TNCs are not exempt, however, from continued annual data submittals as part of the TNC permit requirement.

Small TNCs are also exempt from the requirement to submit two-year plans and annual compliance reports. If a small TNC grows to exceed five million VMT in a given calendar year, it will be subject to the requirements beginning the following calendar year.

To comply with this regulation, CARB staff observes, TNCs may need to work with platform drivers to enable ZEV adoption, and may require future automated vehicle operators providing ride-hailing service to electrify their fleet.

Cumulative statewide emission reductions from the proposed regulation from 2023–2031 are estimated to be 93.21 tons PM_2.5, 298.03 tons NO_x and 1.81 million metric tons (MMT) CO₂. In addition, the proposed regulation is estimated to result in a reduction of 0.36 MMT of CO₂ in the year 2030, representing a 0.39% reduction in the light-duty fleet for that year.

CARB staff based estimates of emission reductions on an assumption of 100% eVMT and do not include emission reductions that could come from implementing VMT reduction strategies for compliance with the GHG targets (e.g., pooling and deadhead mile reduction).