The San Diego City Council Environment Committee on June 30 unanimously endorsed Mayor Todd Gloria’s update of the City’s Climate Action Plan.
The update formalizes the City’s goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2035 while reinforcing the City’s standing as a national climate leader. The CAP update will now be voted on by the full City Council in late July.
One hundred percent renewable energy means getting all energy from renewable resources – sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat – to be used for electricity, heating, cooling, and transport.
Net-zero applies to a situation where global greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are in balance with emissions reductions. At net zero, carbon dioxide emissions are still generated, but an equal amount of carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere as it is released into it, resulting in a zero increase in net emissions.
“San Diego is at a crossroads,” said Gloria in his introduction to the CAP update. “We can and must make the choices and investments necessary to embrace the growing clean-energy economy, provide equitable access to clean mobility, deliver healthy built and natural environments, and protect our residents from the growing threats of climate change. Since 2020, we have heard from more than 3,800 residents about your hopes, needs, and frustrations. Establishing a net-zero GHG emissions target by 2035 means eliminating fossil-fuel emissions from most day-to-day activities in a little more than a decade.
“This CAP guides our collective efforts to build a better future together,” continued Gloria. “It won’t be easy. This is an ambitious plan. But the financial cost and human consequences of inaction are almost unimaginable. The CAP is our strategy to create a City with more efficient buildings and healthier lifestyles, good-paying green jobs, and more resilient communities. Achieving net-zero emissions will improve the air we breathe, the communities we live in, and our overall quality of life.”
Adopting the updated CAP builds on the landmark plan adopted by the City in 2015, and advances goals around de-carbonizing the City’s built infrastructure. This transition away from fossil fuels is to be supported by the implementation of strategic initiatives including building electrification, electric vehicle infrastructure, renewable energy, mobility upgrades, and zero waste goals.
“Achieving CAP’s ambitious goals will produce a sustainable future for San Diegans and remain a model for the country,” said District 1 Councilmember Joe LaCava, chair of the City Council’s Environment Committee. “Climate action cannot wait. This updated CAP is the start. I look forward to the implementation plan and a budget to inform the Council’s priorities and funding decisions.
I appreciate the mayor’s and staff’s commitment to carrying out this work and aggressively tackling the climate crisis.”
Initially, the Climate Action Campaign, a group whose mission is to stop the climate crisis through effective policy action, opposed the City’s updated CAP plan to cut greenhouse gasses because it lacked a clear timeline and costs for implementation.
But Nicole Capretz, founder/CEO of CAC, who helped write the City’s 2015 CAP, now supports the City moving forward with a new updated plan, even without a hard deadline and fixed goals. “Given the City’s failure to implement the first CAP, we are focused on getting firm commitments to fund and identify associated costs for the new updated plan,” Capretz said adding, “Planning is good, doing is better.”
The City’s updated CAP can be viewed at climate-_action-plan-updated-draft.pdf (sandiego.gov) .
