How can SLO reduce greenhouse gases? City’s plan includes electric vehicles, trees
San Luis Obispo’s City Council unanimously passed an updated climate action plan on Tuesday, laying out a series of measures designed to reach the city’s target of carbon neutrality by 2035.
Citing the feedback from residents and businesses who routinely rank climate change as an important issue, the council unanimously passed an initiative that aims to encourage measures such as no net new building emissions from onsite energy use by 2020, and a 50% reduction in existing onsite building emissions — after accounting for community choice energy — by 2030.
The climate action plan also calls for 40% use of electric vehicles by 2030 and 50% use of alternative forms of transportation such as walking, bicycling and bus riding by 2030.
The city also wants a 75% diversion of organic waste to the landfill by 2025 and 90% organic waste diversion by 2035, as well as a significant increase of tree plantings citywide through 2035. The latter is aimed at increasing carbon sequestration, or, the removal of carbon from the atmosphere.
Carbon neutrality, or net-zero energy, is the concept of reducing as much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere as possible, with the overall goal to achieve a zero carbon footprint.
San Luis Obispo’s climate action plan comes in the wake of a new citywide building policy, approved in June, that is designed to encourage all-electric new building.
In addition, the city joined a community choice energy program, which launched in January after a couple years of planning. The program involves power purchases from sources including wind, solar and water.
SLO climate action plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas
The climate action plan includes moving San Luis Obispo toward a green economy that encourages new jobs and economic vitality through reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“(This plan) can be used to drive progress toward a green, local economy that can support our economic development goals,” said Chris Read, the city’s sustainability manager.
At full implementation, the plan aims to achieve reductions of greenhouse gases 45% below 1990 city levels by 2030 and 66% below 1990 levels by 2035.
“These reductions are consistent with California’s goal of reducing GHG emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and are on a course to achieve California’s carbon neutrality by 2045 goal,” the city said in a staff report.
“To de-carbonize an economy is not a simple subtraction,” city manager Derek Johnson said on Tuesday. “It requires a mere complete overhaul of our systems and structures.”
Mayor Heidi Harmon said at Tuesday’s meeting that she has worked for years to address climate action in San Luis Obispo, long before she became a council member. She cited a letter she wrote to the city seven years prior requesting a meeting on the issue.
“I would like to recognize city councils before us that started this process,” Harmon said. “So it’s an honor to pick up where they left off and sort of get it across the finish line.”
Council member Aaron Gomez said Tuesday that the city’s climate action plan will need to be flexible to changes of future councils as well to adjust to evolving conditions.
City wants to reduce car emissions, food waste
The city is targeting a mode shift to encourage alternative uses of transportation by 2030, urging 50% of trips via motor vehicle, 12% of trips via public transit, 20% of trips via bicycles and 18% of trips via walking and carpools.
The city’s transportation plans include increased bikeways and connecting points to bus stops to encourage alternative forms of transportation, increased electric vehicle charging stations at locations including downtown parking garages and a full fleet of zero-emissions city electric buses.
The city is also encouraging the construction of new housing that enables people to live closer to where they work.
Reducing food waste is another focus for San Luis Obispo.
In 2016, greenhouse gases from organic material decomposing in Cold Canyon Landfill, such as food scraps, accounted for more than 10% of the community’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a city staff report.
“As organic materials decompose in a landfill, they release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas,” the city’s plan states.
The city’s actions to address that pollution include saving food that groceries cannot sell because it is past its “sell-by” date — even if it’s edible and in good condition — and diverting it to local emergency food programs.
The city will partner with the Integrated Waste Management Authority, local food banks and the San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition to achieve its goals.
Programs will be initiated to properly dispose of waste, the city said, with greater outreach on what should go in the trash, recycling or organic waste bins, including e-waste facilities.
Additionally, the city aims to prepare an urban forest master plan by 2021 and plant and maintain 10,000 new trees by 2035.
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