San Francisco Intends to Attain Net-zero Emissions by 2040
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced that the US city's highly anticipated 2021 Climate Action Plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.
"With global climate change rapidly accelerating and affecting us now, we must address this urgent challenge and work together to create a future where we can all thrive," Xinhua news agency quoted the Mayor.
She further adds, "San Francisco's Climate Action Plan takes our ambitious goals and lays out the strategies and actions we need to take to turn those goals into reality.”
San Francisco's plan takes a comprehensive approach to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in the city by identifying strategies and actions in six key areas: energy supply; building operations; transportation and land use; housing; responsible production and consumption; and healthy ecosystems, the announcement said.
In total, the plan identifies 31 strategies and 159 supporting actions to help achieve the new environmental commitments: reducing emissions 61 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2040.
In San Francisco, net-zero emissions is defined as reducing emissions 90 percent below 1990 levels and sequestering the rest in natural solutions like trees and green spaces.
The executive order said "As the single largest land owner, energy consumer, and employer in the Nation, the Federal Government can catalyze private sector investment and expand the economy and American industry by transforming how we build, buy, and manage electricity, vehicles, buildings, and other operations to be clean and sustainable.”
The order directs the federal government to use its scale and procurement power to achieve 100 per cent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030, 100 per cent zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035, and net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050, including a 65 per cent emissions reduction by 2030, Xinhua news agency reported.
"The executive order will cut down emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities," the White House said.
It further adds, "Together, the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Budget for Fiscal Year 2022, and Build Back Better Act will provide agencies with the funding necessary to achieve the goals of the executive order.”