The City of San Diego is now required to establish annual targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Falling short of these targets will trigger public disclosure, public hearings, and an amendment to the Climate Action Plan (CAP) to identify how the city will realign with its targets.
Over the years, we’ve focused on ensuring the City of San Diego fulfills the promises outlined in its CAP. Although the city gained national recognition for adopting its groundbreaking CAP in 2015, the true potential to be a climate leader lies in action. Without mechanisms in place for implementation, the CAP is only an aspirational document. In light of this, we pursued legal action to ensure the city meets legal requirements.
“Today is a big win for the community. San Diego is ground zero for suffering through the impacts of the climate crisis—from devastating storms and flooding, the collapse of our coastline, and extreme heat—and we must triple down on implementing solutions to get us off fossil fuels and towards a safe and resilient future. This settlement finally requires the city to take action and correct course if they are off-track on meeting their pollution reduction goals.” — Nicole Capretz, Climate Action Campaign Founder and CEO
This settlement is a massive step in strengthening the CAP, setting a new precedent in climate accountability and action. We appreciate the city’s efforts to establish and implement these crucial climate goals and are excited to continue to make bold waves in climate action.
For more information about the history of the City of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan performance, check out our latest CAP Report Card, our recent transportation report, and related blogs ⬇️
