Santa Barbara County Reviews Progress Toward Climate Goals, Looks to the Future

Santa Barbara County has the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and the Board of Supervisors received a final report last week on the 2015 Energy and Climate Action Plan. 

The report from the Community Services Department showed that 77% of proposed climate measures were initiated or completed by 2020, and 44% of target emissions reductions have been achieved.

Climate Program Manager Garrett Wong and Sustainability Division Chief Ashley Watkins spoke to the board about the department’s carbon reduction goals and early climate actions to reduce greenhouse gases.

Between 2016 and 2018, carbon emissions dropped 3%, showing optimistic progress toward meeting the county’s goal of a 50% carbon reduction by 2030. However, transportation continues to contribute nearly 50% of carbon emissions within the county, and projections for future emissions reductions will require more drastic changes within transportation and building energy.

“A gap of well over 500,000 metric tons remains in order to meet our 50% reduction goal by 2030, which is equivalent to roughly 117,862 passenger vehicles driving for one year,” Wong said.

Given the final results of the 2015 Energy and Climate Action Plan, Wong and his team are developing the emissions forecasts and draft measures and actions for the 2030 Climate Action Program, which was launched in 2020. 

The new plan will be focused on the interrelatedness of the region’s systems, which include housing mobility and transportation, resilient clean energy, sustainable and circular economies, and land stewardship and carbon sequestration.

The 2030 plan kickstarted with community meetings and workshop presentations to engage Santa Barbara County residents. The goal is to have a finalized plan by 2023. 

Wong said the next steps have three primary goals. 

The first is to develop ordinances to restrict natural gas infrastructure and increase energy efficiency performance and electric vehicle charging infrastructure for new residential construction and major renovations.

Building energy accounts for 27% of carbon emissions, but new ordinances are expected to avoid 8% of forecasted natural gas emissions.

“As our sources of electricity generation become cleaner from Central Coast Community Energy, natural gas remains the largest source of emissions in buildings,” Wong said. “A restriction on natural gas in buildings is the most cost-effective way to avoid growth and new carbon emissions in the future.”

Another next step for early action is to update the Zero Net Energy Resolution to Zero Carbon in county buildings, and to shift county facilities to all-electric while keeping utility costs low.

The final priority for the county’s next steps is to develop a Zero Emission Vehicle Plan to advance the use of zero emission vehicles in county operations and the community. Zero emissions vehicles account for only 2% of local vehicles, while transportation accounts for nearly 50% of emissions.