2024 Climate Action Plan Open for Public Comment
The City of Santa Barbara’s Sustainability & Resilience Department is pleased to announce the 2024 Draft Climate Action Plan (CAP) is open for public comment through Wednesday, April 24. The Climate Action Plan, called Together to Zero, outlines a comprehensive suite of short- and long-term actions the City plans to take to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.
The CAP was developed based on substantial public engagement and over 10 public meetings as an update to the City’s original 2012 Climate Action Plan. The CAP provides a user-friendly summary of the highest priority actions, including targets for emission reductions in key sectors, measures developed to achieve specific greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, and specific action items that support each measure. The measures are sorted into five sections: Building Emissions, Transportation, Waste and Wastewater, Carbon Sequestration, and Community Potential. The appendices include a full emissions inventory and forecasts, full list of measures and actions, technical analysis of the GHG reduction measures, and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents.
The CAP will act as the City’s climate roadmap for the next 10 years, and lays a strong foundation for achieving the City’s carbon neutrality goal. Designed to be a living document, the CAP will be updated based on the City’s needs and progress on action items. Equity plays a key role throughout each sector of the CAP, to ensure that our entire community can move Together to Zero.
“Our team is excited to release the Draft Climate Action Plan to the community. We’ve already taken huge steps to reducing our carbon footprint through the City-run Santa Barbara Clean Energy program, which provides our residents and businesses with 100% carbon-free electricity,” noted Sustainability & Resilience Director Alelia Parenteau. “This updated Climate Action Plan outlines the City’s next steps toward achieving its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.”
The public comment period for the 2024 Draft Climate Action Plan is open now through Wednesday, April 24. Documents are available for review in both English and Spanish at SantaBarbaraCA.gov/Climate, and comments are welcome via email at CAP@SantaBarbaraCA.gov.