San Francisco Targets Net-Zero by 2040

San Francisco has updated its climate plan and set a citywide target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. (sf.gov) Mayor Daniel Lurie released the plan on April 16 and signed legislation to align the city’s official climate goals with it. City officials called it San Francisco’s first Climate Action Plan update in five years. (sf.gov) The plan sets an interim target too: cut emissions 61% below 1990 levels by 2030. San Francisco says the roadmap covers seven sectors, including transportation, buildings, waste, water, housing and land use, energy supply, and healthy ecosystems. (sfenvironment.org) Transportation and buildings are the city’s two biggest emissions sources in the new plan, accounting for about 45% and 44% of climate pollution. The city’s strategy leans heavily on shifting trips to Muni, walking and biking, while replacing gas use in buildings with electricity. (sfmta.com) (hoodline.com) For buildings, the city says it wants to decarbonize about 18,000 buildings by 2030 and make all buildings zero-emission by 2040. For transportation, the plan calls for cutting vehicle miles traveled 25% from 2019 levels by 2030 and making 100% of cars and small trucks zero-emission by 2040. (sfenvironment.org) The update arrives as San Francisco says its emissions were already 48% below 1990 levels in the most recent city inventory. The Environment Department says that decline happened while the city’s population grew 21% and the local economy grew 199% since 1990. (sf.gov) (sfenvironment.org) City officials framed the plan as a cost-and-health agenda as much as a climate one. Lurie said the update is meant to lower household and utility costs, and the Environment Department said it was built with nearly 20 city agencies, businesses, and community groups. (sfenvironment.org 1) (sfenvironment.org 2) The hardest part is paying for it. A Berkeley Law report prepared for the city said implementing San Francisco’s climate agenda will require sustained revenue streams and “tens of billions of dollars” for infrastructure and programs. (law.berkeley.edu) That funding question has followed the city’s climate work for years, even as San Francisco keeps tightening its targets. The new plan keeps the 2040 end point in place and turns it into a more detailed list of deadlines for buildings, vehicles, trees, housing, and public transit. (sfenvironment.org) (sf.gov) The next test is implementation: whether San Francisco can convert a five-year update into building retrofits, cleaner transportation, and steady funding before the 2030 deadline arrives. (sfenvironment.org)