The mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach signed a joint declaration Monday setting environmental goals for their respective ports and reaffirming their commitment to adopting the Paris climate agreement goals.
The declaration set the goal of the transition to zero emissions in their Clean Air Action Plan, and affirmed that it will include new investments in clean technology, reducing emissions from ships using the ports, and a zero emissions drayage truck pilot program.
"With the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach ranked as the nation's two largest ports, it is crucial to double down on our commitment to combating climate change by achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and by committing to zero emissions goals for the Clean Air Action Plan," Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said.
"The success of our ports has proven that you don't have to choose between the environment and the economy," he said. "I look forward to working with Mayor Eric Garcetti and making our cities models for climate action."
Both Garcetti and Garcia are members of the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, or Climate Mayors, a group co-founded by Garcetti in 2014. Membership in the group has skyrocketed from 88 to 292 since President Donald Trump vowed to pull America out of the Paris Agreement earlier this month.
The agreement sets environmental goals by the 195 signatory countries, and since Trump's announcement at least 279 of the Climate Mayors have vowed to uphold the agreement.
"Our ports are the engines that power our economy -- they must also be the forces that drive our region toward a greener, more sustainable future," Garcetti said. "I am proud to stand with my fellow Climate Mayor Robert Garcia today, as we renew our commitment to cleaning our air, and moving boldly toward our goal of zero emissions goods movement at the ports."
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The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will release a detailed timeline and process for CAAP within 15 days, and fully complete the update by November, according to Garcetti's office.
Garcetti and Garcia also unveiled the Green Ports Collaborative, an initiative led by the Climate Mayors to encourage cities and ports along West Coast and around America to create shared environmental standards.
