REPORT TO SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION, BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMISSION AND THE CAP 2.0 ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Forward a recommendation to City Council to Adopt the Climate Action Playbook, including the greenhouse gas reduction targets
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
The City of Sunnyvale's Climate Action Plan (CAP 1.0) was adopted in 2014. It laid the foundation for the City's efforts to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions and address climate change. With the implementation of CAP 1.0, as of 2016, the City had achieved its 2020 emissions reduction target four years ahead of schedule. However, CAP 1.0 was not designed to achieve the State of California's longer term targets of a 40 percent reduction in emissions below 1990 levels by 2030 (SB 32) and an 80 percent reduction in emissions below 1990 levels by 2050 (S-3-05).
City Council adopted Accelerating Climate Action as a Policy Priority in 2017 and directed staff to work on Climate Action Plan 2.0 (CAP 2.0). The goal of the CAP 2.0 Initiative was to update CAP 1.0 to meet or exceed the State's longer term targets. Working with a consultant team and the Council-appointed CAP 2.0 Advisory Committee, staff conducted a technical analysis, gathered extensive community input, and developed the Draft Climate Action Playbook (Playbook).
The Playbook proposes to achieve longer-term targets of a 55 percent reduction in emissions below 1990 levels by 2030 (more ambitious than the State target) and an 80 percent reduction in emissions below 1990 levels by 2050. While not strictly defined, an 80 percent reduction in community greenhouse gas emissions is considered to be equivalent to carbon neutrality by many leading cities (e.g., Portland, Vancouver, Sydney, Seattle) that are a part of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and have committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The Playbook contains six core Strategies and 18 Plays that are designed to guide the City to achieve the 2050 target. It als...
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