Procedural equity in clean transportation benefit program implementation: Insights from California’s Clean Cars 4 All

There has been an outsized focus on the distributive aspects of environmental justice compared to procedural aspects. Yet, procedure is equally important to assess, especially considering that there is no established framework to evaluate procedural elements of the growing number of clean transportation programs which support a just transition to clean energy. Such programs are designed to increase uptake of clean vehicles through the provision of incentives and rebates. In this study, we analyze procedural equity in the context of transportation benefit programs providing large financial benefits with limited total funding available. We accomplish this through a qualitative case study of a longstanding, and the largest, equity-focused electric vehicle incentive program in the United States, California’s Clean Cars 4 All (CC4A) program. CC4A is authorized at the state level but is operated regionally by air quality management districts. We conducted interviews with eight program stakeholders and six benefit recipients to analyze the extent to which various regional CC4A program implementation strategies have achieved procedural equity outcomes. We find that the decentralized policy implementation structure has resulted in inconsistency in the realization of procedural equity outcomes, with the most notable differences in outreach approach and community partnerships. The extent, type, and collaborations involved in the outreach process varied widely across the districts. Our findings have important implications for the ongoing design and implementation of clean transportation benefit programs in support of an equitable energy transition.