REPORT TO SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Accept the Climate Action Plan Biennial Progress Report 2018 and Find that the Action is Exempt from Environmental Review under CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5)
Report
BACKGROUND
In May 2014, the Sunnyvale City Council adopted the Climate Action Plan (hereafter CAP 1.0), which outlines the City's path toward mitigating climate change while fostering a sustainable, healthy, and livable community. CAP 1.0 summarized Sunnyvale’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for year 2008 (baseline year) and identified mitigation strategies for reducing emissions. These strategies, if implemented, would enable the City to: (a) exceed the state-recommended target of reducing GHG emissions by 15 percent below 2008 levels by the year 2020, which is deemed equivalent to 1990 emissions; and (b) make progress towards the State’s target of 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050.
In May 2016, City Council accepted the first CAP Biennial Progress Report (2016 CAP Report). This report summarized CAP 1.0 implementation progress during the 2014 calendar year, updated the City's emissions inventories, and revised the schedule for CAP measures to be implemented through 2020. The 2016 CAP Report estimated that the City’s emissions were approximately 15 percent below baseline (2008) levels as of 2014 and that the City was on track to meet the State’s 2020 target.
The City Council is scheduled to consider this item on July 17, 2018.
EXISTING POLICY
Climate Action Plan (CAP)
• Outlines Sunnyvale’s path to “creating a more sustainable, healthy, and livable Sunnyvale.”
• The CAP is intended to “streamline future environmental review of development projects in Sunnyvale by following the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines for a Qualified GHG Reduction Strategy.”
General Plan
Chapter 2: Community Vision - Citywide Vision Goals
• Citywide Vision Goal III, Environmental Sustainability aims to “promote environmental sustainability and remediation in the planning and development of the City, in the design and operation of public and private buildings, in the transportation system, in the use of potable water and in the recycling of waste.”
Chapter 3: Land Use and Transportation
• Goal LT-2: Environmentally Sustainability Land Use and Transportation Planning and Development aims to “Support the sustainable vision by incorporating sustainable features into land use and transportation decisions and practices.”
o Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policy LT-2.2 aims to “Reduce greenhouse gas emissions that affect climate and the environment though land use and transportation planning and development.”
Chapter 5: Housing
• Goal HE-6 Sustainable Neighborhoods, Sustainability Policy states Sunnyvale has adopted a sustainability policy to become “a regional leader in environmental sustainability, advocating to reduce dependence on non-renewable resources by providing greater transportation options, reducing waste, protecting our natural resources, and promoting alternative energy usage and research.”
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(5) in that it is a governmental organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
DISCUSSION
The second CAP 1.0 progress report (2018 CAP Report) summarizes implementation progress through 2017 and provides a 2016 community-wide emissions inventory (see Attachment 2) using the most recent data available. This report has been restyled to be more accessible and interesting to a wider audience, in alignment with one of the CAP goals of enhancing community awareness about sustainability topics and efforts.
Emissions summarized in this report reflect calendar year 2016 due to a lag in data availability from external sources (such as PG&E and other agencies). Of note is the 2017 rollout of Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE), Sunnyvale’s community choice energy program, which was identified as the action with the single most meaningful GHG impact in the City’s adopted CAP. Preliminary data from the implementation of SVCE’s program in 2017, which characterized a significant shift in the citywide load to carbon-free electricity, were applied to the 2016 community-wide emissions to better illustrate SVCE’s impact.
Staff is continuing to implement CAP 1.0 and concurrently working on Council’s priority to accelerate climate action via CAP 2.0. To ensure these efforts advance concurrently, CAP Report 2018 has been streamlined to focus on the status of the top priorities and achievements of CAP 1.0. To this end, the CAP Report 2018: (1) reports on 16 of 50 performance metrics in the CAP; (2) highlights broad programmatic and policy climate action achievements, rather than providing a comprehensive update on the status of all 129 climate actions in the CAP; and (3) defers the update of Work Plan 2020, which is designed to outline the short- and long-term implementation plan for actions. Staff is currently working to incorporate several CAP 1.0 actions into CAP 2.0; this will ensure continuity of ongoing efforts while balancing these with newer, more impactful actions to meet longer term targets.
Community GHG Inventory
The City of Sunnyvale’s community inventory represents a summary of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions generated from activities undertaken by the Sunnyvale community.
Sunnyvale’s community-wide GHG emissions in 2016 are estimated to be 881,000 MTCO2e, 25 percent lower than 2008 emissions (12 percent decrease since 2014), and 12 percent below Sunnyvale’s 1990 levels (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Sunnyvale’s Historic GHG Emissions, including SVCE 2017 Lens
Preliminary data from the rollout of Silicon Valley Clean Energy’s (SVCE) 100-percent carbon-free electricity shows that Sunnyvale’s 2016 emissions would further drop to 39 percent below 2008 (28 percent below 1990 levels). This demonstrates meaningful progress towards the State’s 2030 target (40 percent below 1990 levels). Significant GHG reductions are needed to achieve the State’s longer term target for 2050 (80 percent below 1990 levels).
Emissions inventories for both 2008 and 2014 were revised with this report to reflect vehicle miles traveled (VMT) estimates from the City’s recently updated (2014) travel demand model, developed by Hexagon Transportation Consultants. In addition, emissions from wastewater in the 2008 inventory were also updated to reflect the current methodology for calculating this sector’s emissions and ensure consistency with the methodology used for 2014 and 2016 inventories.
Noteworthy emissions trends include:
• Energy sector: Emissions continued to decrease from 2014 to 2016. This decrease can largely be attributed to a 32 percent drop in PG&E’s electricity emissions factor (from 435 lbs/MWh in 2014 to 294 lbs/MWh in 2016), as the utility continued to exceed the State’s renewable portfolio standard. This decrease was also due in small part to a continued declining trend in both residential and non-residential electricity usage (approximately 1 percent reduction in each sector, respectively). Residential and non-residential natural gas use, however, increased by 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively, since 2014.
• Transportation sector: Emissions continued to increase from 2014 to 2016, which may be attributed to the growth in both population and jobs in Sunnyvale.
• Solid Waste sector: Emissions increased from 2014 to 2016. Although our diversion rate (~64% diverted away from landfill) and per capita waste disposal rate (3.6 lbs. per person per day) remained the same, the economic upturn may have led to a higher proportion of construction and demolition waste, which is included in the municipal solid waste disposed from our City.
CAP Implementation Results
The CAP 1.0 identifies a collection of 129 actions under 11 key goal categories. As previously noted, however, this report includes a limited report of the following elements due to the parallel effort of CAP 2.0 preparation that is underway.
The 2018 CAP Report tracks the 16 of the 50 most meaningful performance metrics identified in CAP 1.0, which are summarized in Attachment 2.
It is important to note the foundation for two key initiatives was laid in 2016 and launched in 2017:
• Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE), the City’s community choice aggregation energy provider, commenced operations in April 2017, to provide Sunnyvale with 100 percent carbon-free electricity.
• FoodCycle, the City’s residential and commercial food scraps collection program was initiated in fall 2017, to further increase diversion away from landfills. Initial data from the program shows a recovery rate (55 percent) for its first three months of implementation, higher than the originally anticipated 50 percent recovery based on the pilot program from 2016.
The GHG emissions impact of these programs will be fully realized in the next biennial progress report in 2020 (i.e., 2018 GHG emissions inventory).
FISCAL IMPACT
This action relates to acceptance of the 2018 CAP Report. There is no fiscal impact associated with this report. Additional funding recommendations will be brought to the City Council for consideration during appropriate budget cycles and with the completion of action-specific studies.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made through posting of the Sustainability Commission’s agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board, on the City’s website, and the availability of the agenda and report in the Office of the City Clerk.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Recommend that the City Council find that the action is exempt from environmental review under CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5) and accept the Climate Action Plan Biennial Progress Report 2018.
2. Other direction provided by the Commission.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Recommend that the City Council find that the action is exempt from environmental review under California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5) and accept the Climate Action Plan Biennial Progress Report 2018.
Staff
Prepared by: Elaine Marshall, Environmental Programs Manager
Reviewed by: Melody Tovar, Regulatory Programs Division Manager
Reviewed by: Teri Silva, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Kent Steffens, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Reserved for Report to Council
2. Climate Action Plan Biennial Progress Report - 2018