In Riverside, you can now rent a hydrogen-powered car for the day.
It’s called the Riverside Clean Air Carshare…
KVCR's Jessica Greenwell has more.
It’s a partnership between the city, UC Riverside, Mobility Development Operations, CALSTART, and the California Air Resources Board.
It’s funded by a 1.5-million-dollar state grant aimed at expanding access to clean transportation in disadvantaged communities.
The program is just one example of the direction Riverside is heading, toward a more climate-resilient and environmentally conscious future.
Rafael Guzman is Riverside’s Assistant City Manager and Chief Sustainability Officer. He says Riverside’s climate action and adaptation efforts are tied directly to local emissions data.
“It’s really a strategic roadmap, or a guide for the city of Riverside in preparing for climate risks and creating meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. So, this is a plan that looks at the city overall, and all inputs or outputs, and comes up with baseline, which we have recently shared. That was the first sort of glimpse at where our carbon footprint is largest, which happens to be in transportation, no surprise for Southern California.”
Guzman says that vision is already showing up in city programs, from solar-powered greenhouses to transit.
Companies like Hyundai and Ohmio have brought zero-emission vehicle manufacturing to the city, while local businesses are getting certified through the Green Business Network.
In addition to the climate plan, the city is working on General Plan 2050, a 25-year vision for how Riverside will grow and develop. Guzman says the process starts by listening to residents across all parts of the city.
“We're getting out to the community, that could be a farmers market, could be a community meeting, that is a neighborhood association, and we are all ears.”
City leaders say these efforts, the climate plan, the carshare, the general plan outreach, are all connected.
Officials say the hope is to reduce emissions, guide responsible development, and position Riverside to attract clean-tech jobs and investment.
For KVCR News, I’m Jessica Greenwell