Mayor Gavin Newsom introducing San Francisco's Climate Action Plan at a news conference in Hunters Point, September 27, 2004.

Climate change presents serious threats to the quality of life in San Francisco. The impacts of rising sea levels could be potentially devastating.

Low lying areas such as San Francisco International Airport, Treasure Island, Mission Bay, SBC and Candlestick Parks, roads, railroad tracks, sewage treatment plants, and our marina and harbor facilities could be threatened. We must act now to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions or we will quickly reach a point at which global warming cannot be reversed.

That is why San Francisco holds itself accountable for its contributions to global warming, and is committed to dramatically reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2012. The Climate Action Plan, prepared by San Francisco’s Department of Environment and Public Utilities Commission staff, quantifies the emissions we are responsible for and identifies actions required to achieve emissions rollbacks.

The good news is that we can reduce the pollution that causes global warming by using currently available technologies that also enhance economic development. We can promote energy efficiency, renewable energy, alternatives to automobile transportation, and recycling to help save money and create jobs that strengthen the local economy, and increase the livability of our neighborhoods.

Our actions can be an example to others. As cities across the nation make similar commitments we can work in concert to make an environmental u-turn. It is up to municipal governments to take ownership of this critical issue when there is scant leadership coming from Washington, D.C.

We need to act now if we are going to keep San Francisco and the Bay Area a viable place to live for future generations. It is our responsibility as citizens of the world.

Gavin Newsom

Global Warming is real. The world’s leading climate scientists agree that human behavior is accelerating global warming, and that the earth is already suffering the impacts of the resulting climate change.

Climate change will affect San Francisco. It is a global problem with local impacts. Rising temperatures, rising sea level, and more frequent El Niño storms could seriously threaten the City’s infrastructure, economy, health, and ecosystems with impacts such as:

• Flooded roads, threats to the sewage system and Airport infrastructure;
• Increased asthma and respiratory illness due to higher ozone levels;
• Threatened Bay wetlands and marine life;
• Fishing and tourism industry impacts, high insurance and mitigation costs.

We have a responsibility to act. San Francisco is responsible for about 9.7 million tons of CO₂ emissions per year. In 2002, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Resolution, committing the City and County of San Francisco to a greenhouse gas emissions reductions goal of 20% below 1990 levels by the year 2012. The resolution also states that the Mayor and Board of Supervisors actively support the Kyoto Protocol, and calls upon national leaders to do so as well. Federal inaction makes state and local action all the more important. The development of this Climate Action Plan, called for in the resolution, describes what San Francisco can do in order to achieve our greenhouse gas reduction goal.

San Francisco has joined with over 500 cities around the world to participate in the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) campaign, sponsored by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). As part of the campaign, member cities have committed to: inventory their emissions of greenhouse gases; set reduction targets; develop comprehensive strategies to meet these targets; implement these emissions reduction actions; and measure the results. The criteria set by the CCP campaign have been used to define the scope and presentation of this Plan.

The Climate Action Plan

• Provides background information on the causes of climate change and projections of its impacts on California and San Francisco from recent scientific reports;
• Presents estimates of San Francisco’s baseline greenhouse gas emissions inventory and reduction target;
• Describes recommended emissions reduction actions in the key target sectors - transportation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and solid waste management – to meet our 2012 goal; and
• Presents next steps required over the near term to implement the Plan.