# San Francisco Climate Action Plan

The San Francisco Climate Action Plan is a greenhouse gas reduction initiative adopted by the City and County of San Francisco, United States in 2002. It aims to reduce the city's greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2012. The plan was updated in 2013 to adopt an updated target of 40% below 1990 levels by 2025.

## Greenhouse gas emissions

San Francisco's annual greenhouse gas emissions were 9.7 million tons equivalent carbon dioxide (eCO$_2$) in 2000., which was 12.5 tons eCO$_2$ per person. This level of emissions is lower than both the state and country in which San Francisco is located: California's annual per capita emissions of 14.2 tons eCO$_2$ in 2000, and USA's annual per capita emissions of 20.4 CO$_2$ in 2000. However, it is much higher than the emissions level for the world as a whole, which was 4.4 tons CO$_2$ per person in 2003.

## History

The Climate Action Plan is one of many initiatives adopted by state and local governments in the USA to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enacted primarily in response due to the absence of such action at the federal level. It was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as Resolution Number 0158-02, the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Resolution, on 2002-03-04. In doing so, San Francisco also joined over 500 cities to participate in the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.

## Goals

San Francisco's annual greenhouse gas emissions were 9.1 million tons equivalent carbon dioxide (eCO$_2$) in 1990 and 9.7 million tons eCO$_2$ in 2000, and the Climate Action Plan's goal is to reduce emissions to 7.2 million tons eCO$_2$ by 2012. These goals, therefore, represent reductions of greenhouse gas emissions of 20% from 1990 levels and 26% from 2000 levels. The sources of greenhouse gases include those generated due to fossil fuel and electricity consumption used for transportation, natural gas, and electricity used in buildings, and well as those generated by solid waste.

## Reports

The plan's first report, Climate Action Plan for San Francisco, Local Actions to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions was published by the San Francisco Department of the Environment and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission with assistance from the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives in September 2004. In four chapters, the report describes the causes and local impacts of climate change, the city's greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, actions to reduce those emissions, and an implementation strategy for the near term.
The 2004 report proposes a wide variety of actions to achieve its stated emissions reductions, which fall into the following categories: transportation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and solid waste. Within each category, each action is described including an estimate for the CO$_2$ emissions reduction it would result in. The table below summarizes these.
| Category | Action | CO$_2$ Reduction (tons) |
| Transportation | Increase the Use of Public Transit as an Alternative to Driving | 87,000 |
| Transportation | Increase the Use of Ridesharing as an Alternative to Single-Occupancy Driving | 42,000 |
| Transportation | Increase Bicycling and Walking as an Alternative to Driving | 10,000 |
| Transportation | Support Trip Reduction through Employer-Based Programs | 28,000 |
| Transportation | Discourage Driving | 155,000 |
| Transportation | Increase the Use of Clean Air Vehicles and Improve Fleet Efficiency | 641,000 |
| | | 963,000 |
| Energy Efficiency | Increase Incentive, Direct Installation and Technical Assistance | 700,000 |
| Energy Efficiency | Expand Education and Outreach | 36,000 |
| Energy Efficiency | Strengthen Legislation, Codes, and Standards | 65,000 |
| | | 801,000 |
| Renewable Energy | Develop Renewable Energy Projects | 318,000 |
| Renewable Energy | Conduct Pilot Project for Emerging Technologies | - |
| Renewable Energy | Support and Develop Green Power Purchasing | 230,000 |
| | | 548,000 |
| Solid Waste | Increase Residential Recycling and Composting | 70,000 |
| Solid Waste | Increase Commercial Recycling and Composting | 109,000 |
| Solid Waste | Expand Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling | 57,000 |
| Solid Waste | Support Alternate Collection Methods for Recyclable Materials | 66,000 |
| Solid Waste | Promote Source Reduction, Reuse, and Other Waster Reduction | - |
| | | 302,000 |
| Total | | 2,614,000 |

## Results

San Francisco met its Climate Action Plan targets with a 28.5% reduction from 1990 levels. The 2015 total was 4.4 million mtCO2e.