Early Success in Climate Fight Sets up Second Act
September 15, 2016 2:29 PM
Santa Monica, CA – The City of Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment reported early successes in the global fight against climate change this week. The 15x15 Climate Action Plan Final Report (15X15 CAP) summarizes a three year effort to reduce communitywide emissions 15% below 1990 levels by the end of 2015. Santa Monica exceeded its aggressive goal by reaching reductions of 20%. Santa Monica was able to achieve these dramatic reductions in emissions at a time of strong economic growth and while adding public services. Santa Monica is now among a small group of leading cities in the U.S.
“We take environmental stewardship seriously, our residents take it seriously, and together we’ve demonstrated that through strong policy, ambitious goals, and community outreach, localities can make a serious dent in the fight against climate change,” said Mayor Tony Vazquez.
A significant portion of emissions reductions came from the community using less energy and replacing dirty energy sources with clean, renewable energy. Since 2013, Santa Monica residents and businesses have saved over 18 million kWh through energy efficiency – that’s equivalent to one year’s worth of energy savings for 1,868 homes. Over 1.5 megawatts of solar capacity was also installed.
Santa Monica’s largest emissions sector, transportation, saw a slight decrease over time despite annual vehicle miles traveled increasing. The decrease in emissions is largely due to increased fuel efficiency and cleaner burning fuels. The City recently launched an aggressive mobility outreach effort to raise awareness about mobility options and incite behavior change. The City focused on lowering emissions by providing real choices to residents to break our societal reliance on cars.
“Santa Monicans tend to be early adopters when it comes to things that help the environment, like transitioning to cleaner technologies, and this helped us exceed our aggressive climate goals,” said Dean Kubani, the City of Santa Monica’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “The fact that we were able to do this while growing a vibrant local economy and maintaining a high quality of life for residents, visitors and businesses shows that we are definitely on the right track. What’s not to like about that?”
Building off the successes and lessons learned in the 15x15 CAP, Council has directed staff to analyze the feasibility of achieving carbon neutrality – a state a community reaches when it has dramatically reduced its carbon emissions and balanced the remaining emissions with offsetting measures like tree planting. Santa Monica joins leadership cities like Copenhagen, Melbourne and Seattle in the effort to move towards carbon neutrality.
The report was welcome news as the community is already in the early planning stages for the follow-up Climate Action & Adaptation Plan which will set policies moving forward through 2050. The new plan will include deep emissions reduction strategies while at the same time create a plan for adapting to the impacts of climate change that are likely to occur, such as sea level rise.
“We will take what we’ve learned implementing the 15x15 CAP and use it to develop the City’s next Climate Action & Adaptation Plan,” says Garrett Wong, the City’s Sustainability Analyst. “It will be ambitious, but we are encouraging the community to build this plan with us and envision a low-carbon, resilient community of the future that keeps Santa Monica at the forefront of environmental leadership and innovation.”
On October 29, the City will be hosting a Community Climate Action Summit to engage residents, students and businesses in identifying solutions to becoming a carbon neutral community. Staff anticipate the plan to be complete in summer of 2017.
For more information about the 15x15 Climate Action Plan Final Report and the Community Climate Action Summit, visit sustainablesm.org/climate.
Media Contact
Constance Farrell
Communications & Public Information Manager
Constance.Farrell@santamonica.gov