March 12, 2025
In 2023 the Oregon Climate Action Commission (OCAC), as part of the Climate Action Roadmap to 2030, recommended a package of greenhouse gas (GHG) goal updates for the state.
Some historical background: in Oregon, this goal-setting began in 2007 with the passage of HB 3543, which recommended (among other targets) reducing GHGs to below 75% of 1990 levels, by 2050. Next, in Executive Order 20-04, issued in 2020, Governor Brown updated this target to at least 80% below 1990 levels, again by 2050.
In this new bill, the legislature is adopting OCACs 2023 recommendation. The bill calls for new targets: Oregon’s GHG emissions reductions should drop below 45%, 70% and 95% by 2030, 2040 and 2050, respectively, in each case as compared to 1990 levels.
Another target is to reach “net-zero” emissions by 2050, and to maintain “net-negative” emissions thereafter. Achieving “net-zero” and “net-negative” emissions requires the use of natural and/or industrial carbon sequestration approaches to durably remove carbon from the climate system, burying it deeply under the land and/or oceans. For example, carbon can be sequestered in Oregon’s forests over timeframes of a century or longer.
The bill also clarifies that its purpose is to limit global warming to under 1.5° C as compared to preindustrial temperatures. The bill’s goals don’t add any new regulatory authority by the state.
The bill declares an emergency, which means that passing it is declared to be essential to preserving the public peace, health and safety.