Progress on the Climate Action Plan
Berkeley's Greenhouse gas emissions continue to decline in 2020, with the pandemic causing transportation emissions to plummet while residential electricity increased.
One year since the Glasgow Climate Pact was signed to build upon the Paris Agreement and take action to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C of pre-industrial levels by 2100, the international community met last month in Egypt for the COP27 climate summit to continue efforts to reach this goal. While action was taken for the first time to have richer nations financially compensate poorer nations for economic losses caused by climate change, very little was done to ensure that exceeding the 1.5C threshold will be avoided. Today, global temperatures are 1.2C warmer than pre-industrial levels, with temperatures expected to rise by 2.7C by 2100 if no significant action is taken. Simply put, a momentous paradigm shift is needed immediately to avoid long-term climate catastrophe.
Berkeley has always been at the forefront of climate change. From recent examples such as eliminating natural gas in new buildings, to historical firsts such as curbside recycling in the 1970s, Berkeley has often been a trendsetter for others to follow. In recent years, we have linked climate adaptation to equity, with the understanding that just like on a global scale, locally the impacts of climate change will disproportionately impact low income communities. Below is information relating to the progress made on the Climate Action Plan, actions we have recently taken to reduce our carbon footprint and what we are doing to adapt to climate change and become a more resilient city.
Recent Climate Action
In 2006, Berkeley voters approved the creation of the Climate Action Plan, with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% below 2000 levels by 2050. As the impacts of climate change became clearer and the need to take bolder action became apparent, in 2018 the City Council declared a Climate Emergency and laid the groundwork to become a Fossil Fuel-Free City. In 2021, Council passed a Resolution aiming to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045 or sooner.
On transportation, Council adopted the Berkeley Electric Mobility Roadmap in 2020, which builds upon the work to increase alternative forms of transportation to ultimately create a fossil fuel-free transportation system. Last year, the Micromobility Permit Program was established, with bike and electric scooter share launching in Berkeley earlier this year. 200 publicly available EV charging stations are now available in Berkeley and rising. 7.5% of registered cars in Berkeley are fully electric, with the goal of reaching 25% by 2025 and 100% by 2045. The City’s fleet of vehicles is being converted to electric, which should be completed by the end of the decade.
On buildings, this year all residential and commercial accounts were upgraded to East Bay Community Energy’s (EBCE) Renewable 100 program. This provides 100% wind and solar energy at a cost just ¾ cent per kilowatt hour above PG&E rates, or around an additional $4 a month. Municipal buildings had already switched to Renewable 100 in 2019, with residential joining in March and commercial in October. The City is also moving away from natural gas, which accounts for 32% of the city’s GHG emissions, through the Berkeley Existing Buildings Electrification Strategy (BEBES). Approved last year by Council, BEBES provides the framework to transition existing buildings from natural gas to electric, with the entire city becoming natural gas-free by 2045 or earlier. Already, new construction cannot incorporate natural gas in buildings when Berkeley became the first city to pass such a law in 2019. Since then, dozens of jurisdictions across the country have followed Berkeley’s lead in introducing similar laws.
Last year, the City Council launched a pilot program of the Climate Equity Fund. The $600,000 pilot, which was funded in the most recent budget, will be used to provide climate and resilience benefits to low-income residents. This includes supporting building and transportation electrification, providing community access to resilience measures, and electrification engagement with historically marginalized communities. This pilot program will run through 2024, and if it is successful in advancing ways to move away from fossil fuels in an equitable way, will be expanded.
Climate Action Plan Update
The most recent data on Berkeley’s greenhouse gas emissions come from 2020. It shows that since 2000, emissions are down by 31%, a decrease of 7% in just one year. In the same time period, the city’s population grew by 21%. One of the biggest drops comes from transportation, which accounts for 46% of GHG emissions, down from 60% in 2019. This, however, is an anomaly caused by the pandemic-induced shutdowns and the significant rise in people working from home. As such, transportation emissions are expected to rebound, but hopefully will continue the trends of declining in the long term. 51% of GHG emissions come from buildings, with commercial gas at 14%, residential gas at 18%, commercial electricity at 11%, and residential electricity at 8%. Waste and water consumption/treatment account for the remaining 3%. With more people working from home, GHG emissions from electricity, especially residential, increased in 2020. GHG emissions from electricity are expected to plummet in the near future, with the City switching all residential and commercial accounts to 100% solar and wind earlier this year.
With Berkeley’s commitment to have zero net emissions by 2045 or sooner, an additional 69% in reduction will be needed, a goal that is achievable thanks to the groundwork explained above.
Resiliency and Climate Adaptation
Long term climate models forecast that California and Berkeley will experience longer, more extreme droughts, and the fewer storms that we do receive will be more intense, testing our stormwater infrastructure. Extreme heatwaves are also more likely, along with the risk of wildfires. As we witnessed in 2020, even if a wildfire is outside the region, smoke can significantly deteriorate local air quality. Rising sea levels will also cause groundwater near the coast to rise, increasing the risk of flooding in West Berkeley.
In 2016, the City Council adopted the Berkeley Resilience Strategy to advance preparedness and equity in the City over a variety of challenges, including climate change. Over the past six years, multiple actions have been taken to support the goals set out in the Resiliency Plan. To address sea level and groundwater rise, the City has partnered with the San Francisco Estuary Institute Aquatic Science Center, the Pathways Climate Institute, UC Berkeley, and other local jurisdictions in developing a series of groundwater maps based on various sea level rise scenarios to identify what actions are needed to prevent extreme flooding. Efforts are also underway to address sea level rise at the Marina through the Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan. To improve equity among the city’s tree canopy which consists of 38,000 trees, 1,000 new trees that are drought tolerant will be planted over the next year in South and West Berkeley neighborhoods. These areas have less trees compared to the rest of the city, which provides shade, cooling, storm water benefits, and beautification. Next year, in partnership with EBCE, we plan on installing solar + storage systems at critical municipal facilities in the case of power outages, which will be important in extreme weather events that could result in PSPS events.
While we cannot stop climate change by ourselves, we can inspire others to adopt the policies Berkeley has made to protect our environment and our future. From individual choices such as your diet and how you commute, to more institutionalized policies implemented by governments, there still is a narrow path forward to avoid climate catastrophe. The next couple of years will make or break our future and Berkeley, as always, will be leading these efforts.