MOVING CALIFORNIA FORWARD

The report argues that smart growth—characterized by compact, walkable, and transit-oriented development—is essential for California to meet its 2030 climate targets. By combining aggressive energy technology deployment with 'More Compact' or 'Infill Focus' land use scenarios, the state could achieve statewide emissions reductions of 40-41% below 1990 levels. Beyond carbon mitigation, the study quantifies significant co-benefits, including billions of dollars in household and infrastructure cost savings, improved public health outcomes, and the conservation of hundreds of square miles of land.

• Combining the 'Early Deployment' energy technology scenario with 'More Compact' or 'Infill Focus' land use scenarios can lead to statewide carbon emissions reductions of 40-41% below 1990 levels by 2030, providing an additional 9-12 million metric tons (MMT) of CO2e reductions.
• Smart growth policies generate substantial economic savings for households and municipalities. By 2030, the 'Infill Focus' scenario could save the average household $2,000 annually and result in $91.1 billion in cumulative household cost savings from 2015 to 2030. Additionally, more compact growth could save cities between $12 billion and $18.5 billion in cumulative infrastructure costs for roads, sewers, and water.
• Reducing total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by 2% from current levels could achieve a 50% reduction in oil use for transportation by 2030, assuming the E3 Early Deployment scenario. The 'Infill Focus' scenario shows that total VMT in 2030 would only rise by about 1% despite a 14% increase in population.
• The authors recommend that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) strengthen emissions reduction targets under SB 375 and provide substantial funding to help cities and regions implement target-compliant land use plans.

APA

Busch, C., Lew, E., & DiStefano, J. (2015). MOVING CALIFORNIA FORWARD. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Moving-Forward-Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf

Chicago

Busch, Chris, Erika Lew, and Joe DiStefano. MOVING CALIFORNIA FORWARD. Energy Innovation, 2015. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Moving-Forward-Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Busch |first1=Chris |last2=Lew |first2=Erika |last3=DiStefano |first3=Joe |title=MOVING CALIFORNIA FORWARD |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=September 2015 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Moving-Forward-Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{busch2015moving, author = {Busch, Chris and Lew, Erika and DiStefano, Joe}, title = {{MOVING CALIFORNIA FORWARD}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2015}, month = sep, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Moving-Forward-Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }