San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed today launched ClimateSF, a comprehensive multi-agency effort to guide San Francisco’s climate resilience efforts, led by the Mayor’s Office and the San Francisco Office of Resilience and Capital Planning, Planning Department, Department of the Environment, Port of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
ClimateSF pulls critical partner agencies together to establish goals and take collective action on climate resilience planning, policy, and guidance across the city – from local decision-makers and City staff to neighborhood leaders, seniors, youth, families, and residents. This focus on climate resilience allows the City to merge adaptation and mitigation efforts into one coordinated approach, with a central focus on racial and social equity, healthy communities, just transition, connection to nature, and innovation. Moving forward, ClimateSF will be focused on several key deliverables.
These deliverables include:
- Coordinated engagement on city priorities regarding resilience
- Developing effective legislative and advocacy strategies
- Utilizing a citywide climate resilience framework
- Establishing shared capital planning
- Funding and financing strategies
- Setting citywide benchmarks and maintaining a public dashboard to show progress
- Developing multi-hazard and multi-asset capital planning guidance
- Upgrading and coordinating City codes and standards
“The City of San Francisco has been a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change, and recent events show we need to do more. Extreme heat, poor air quality, rising sea levels, floods, and drought are impacting all San Franciscans, especially our most vulnerable,” said Mayor Breed. “It is critical that the City eliminate and sequester emissions while also safeguarding for current and future hazards. With the launch of ClimateSF, we are not only accelerating our actions but also serving as a global model for protecting people, communities, and critical assets from climate change now and in the future.”
Mayor Breed’s announcement of ClimateSF comes as the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference of Parties 26 (COP26) will soon begin in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Over the next two weeks, COP26 is a critical opportunity to achieve pivotal, transformational change in global climate policy and action. The conference is taking place in the midst of widespread, rapid, and intensifying global climate change impacts as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, and presents an opportunity for governments to respond to the urgent need to build back better for present and future generations.
Subnational governments like San Francisco have an important role to play in meeting reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating a future that is more resilient and sustainable. San Francisco recently adopted new science-based climate targets that are in line with the level of ambition needed to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Specifically, the City has a goal to reduce emissions 61% below 1990 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
In addition to the departments listed above, the ClimateSF partnership includes the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority, Public Works, and the Department of Public Health, who provide services that could be critically impacted by climate change. ClimateSF champions a vision on climate resilience and streamlines City responses to promote an equitable, safe, and healthy San Francisco for generations to come.
The departments coming together under ClimateSF have worked together on several citywide resilience initiatives, including the Sea Level Rise Guidance for Capital Planning, Hazards and Climate Resilience Plan, Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Consequences Assessment, and the Islais Creek Southeast Mobility and Adaptation Strategy. Additionally, the City has championed critical adaptation projects such as those located at Pier 70, Treasure Island, and the Giants’ stadium parking lot. The ClimateSF team also oversees the ongoing work of the Heat and Air Quality Resilience Project, which is a cross-departmental effort to identify medium- and long-term policy solutions for making the entire City and its residents more resilient to heat and poor air quality.
The City’s upcoming Climate Action Plan is also integrated into the ClimateSF program. The climate action plan, led by the Department of the Environment and with input from other City agencies, charts the path to achieve the City’s ambitious emissions targets. The final plan will be released later this year.
"ClimateSF is working to define a desired and achievable climate resilient future for the City through this coordinated effort to reduce contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for climate change,” said City Administrator Carmen Chu. "We are proud that San Francisco’s approach to resilience includes a central focus on racial and social equity, healthy communities, just transition, connection to nature, and innovation.”
For more information, visit onesanfrancisco.org/Climate_SF.