(1) The Oregon Climate Action Commission shall track and evaluate:

(a) Economic, environmental, health and social assessments of global warming impacts on Oregon and the Pacific Northwest;

(b) Existing greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies and measures;

(c) Economic, environmental, health and social costs, and the risks and benefits of alternative strategies, including least-cost options;

(d) The physical science of global warming;

(e) Progress toward the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals established by ORS § 468A.205;

(f) Greenhouse gases emitted by various sectors of the state economy, including but not limited to industrial, transportation and utility sectors;

(g) Technological progress on sources of energy the use of which generates no or low greenhouse gas emissions and methods for carbon sequestration;

(h) Efforts to identify the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the residential and commercial building sectors;

(i) The carbon sequestration potential of Oregon’s natural and working lands, alternative methods of land management that can increase carbon sequestration and reduce the loss of carbon sequestration to wildfire, changes in the mortality and distribution of tree and other plant species and the extent to which carbon is stored in tree-based building materials;

(j) The advancement of regional, national and international policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;

(k) Local and regional efforts to prepare for the effects of global warming; and

(L) Any other information, policies or analyses that the commission determines will aid in the achievement of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals established by ORS § 468A.205.

(2) The commission shall:

(a) Work with the State Department of Energy and the Department of Environmental Quality to evaluate all gases with the potential to be greenhouse gases and to determine a carbon dioxide equivalency for those gases;

(b) Use regional and national baseline studies of building performance to identify incremental targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions attributable to residential and commercial building construction and operations;

(c) Prepare a detailed forecast of expected greenhouse gas emissions reductions; and

(d)(A) Periodically evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals established by ORS § 468A.205 and, as necessary, make recommendations to the Legislative Assembly for updating those goals based on the best available science.

(B) At a minimum, the commission shall complete an evaluation and provide any recommendations to the Legislative Assembly, in the manner provided in ORS § 192.245, no later than 18 months after the date on which the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change publishes a synthesis report or the United States Global Change Research Program publishes a national climate assessment. [2007 c.907 § 12; 2023 c.442 § 47]

See note under 468A.200.