Santa Barbara’s Road Map to Reaching Carbon Neutrality

Santa Barbara has a reputation as a climate-conscious community, as the birthplace of Earth Day following a devastating oil spill off the coast in 1969. Now the city leadership has set its goals on carbon neutrality with the 2024 Climate Action Plan, an updated road map to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions over the next decade and more.

The city was among the first communities in the state to adopt a climate action plan back in 2012, and in 2020, the City Council affirmed its aspirational goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2035 — a full 10 years before the statewide goal of 2045. But this lofty goal requires an aggressive and full-pronged approach to reducing emissions, prompting city staff to work with Rincon Consultants and the Community Environmental Council toward an updated plan, which will be laid out for City Council adoption on Tuesday.

The 2024 Climate Action Plan is compiled into a 55-page report submitted by Sustainability & Resilience Director Alelia Parenteau, which breaks down the greater goal of carbon neutrality into bite-size pieces that can be implemented, or already have been implemented, through programs and policies that reduce gas emissions across the board.

In a letter to the community published in the report, councilmembers said, “We know the road ahead will not be easy, but we are up for the challenge.”

“By working towards carbon neutrality, we are not only reducing our impact on the environment, but also investing in a better future for generations to come,” the council’s public letter stated. “We are creating new opportunities for innovation, job creation, and resilience that will strengthen our local economy by promoting renewable energy and sustainable practices.”

According to data from 2019 (the most recently available data on emissions), the largest portion of Santa Barbara’s 622,000 metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions come from cars, with passenger transportation making up more than 42 percent of total emissions. Second is natural gas at 22 percent, followed by electricity at 18 percent. Smaller portions come from food at landfills (9 percent), off-road vehicles (7 percent), and commercial vehicles (2 percent).

The “Together to Zero” initiative calls for reducing emissions by encouraging the community and local businesses to buy into renewable energy sources like solar power, to choose more sustainable transportation options such as electrical vehicles and e-bikes, and to transition to more energy-efficient systems for buildings and public transit.

So far, the city has already got the ball rolling by instituting a strategic energy plan, an electric bike-sharing program, EV infrastructure, and the Santa Barbara Clean Energy program, which provides 100 percent carbon-free energy to city residents.

Since the city started the Clean Energy program and another partnership with the county ReSource Center at Tajiguas Landfill to convert waste into energy, there has already been a “substantial jump start in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the report. 

And although the rate isn’t dropping fast enough to meet the goal of complete carbon neutrality by 2035, Santa Barbara is still ahead of the curve. According to a graph included in the report, Santa Barbara’s annual emissions have already dipped below 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide thanks to the two programs, and with the implementation of the 2024 Climate Action Plan, the city is expected to reach below 300,000 metric tons by 2035.

Reaching the goal of carbon neutrality will require not only added commitment to current programs, according to city staff, but also the transformation of energy infrastructure, a change in consumer behavior, and the assurance that state and federal governments will continue to remain “bold and ambitious.” 

To reduce vehicle pollution and traffic, the city will continue to encourage climate-friendly transportation by providing incentives for businesses and organizations that make the switch over to electric vehicles. And while the city has already begun the plan to switch all municipal vehicles to EV’s, there have been challenges finding replacements for some work vehicles — especially large trucks that require more power than currently available in the EV market.

Other citywide projects, such as the State Street Master Plan and Bicycle Master Plan, ensure that populated areas will have plenty of access for pedestrians and cyclists, while new programs will provide more availability for EV chargers and infrastructure. All together, these could reduce transportation emissions by an estimated 40 percent.

But it isn’t all about cars. The 2024 Climate Action Plan also calls for eliminating emissions from buildings by increasing energy efficiency in city buildings and converting new and existing buildings to all-electric systems. The city has already adopted a Green Building policy, with all new city facilities required to be “highly efficient, zero-net-energy buildings,” and the goal is to convert all facilities by 2035. 

By reducing the use of landfill space, cutting back on city water demand, and getting rid of single-use plastic or other environmentally dangerous materials, the city expects to cut back on waste and water emissions by 54 percent. City workers are also working to plant more trees to help remove carbon from the atmosphere, and maintenance crews are doing as much as they can to reduce fire risk through vegetation management.

But even with the climate action plan, achieving the goal of total carbon neutrality will require community education, even more advanced technology, and federal legislation that supports these goals. “Because of this, the Climate Action Plan must be a dynamic, living document, assessed and adapted regularly to address changes in the landscape,” the report states.