Last month the Board of Supervisors adopted its first Climate Action Strategy to identify and address the issues our community faces due to climate change. The County is mandated by the state to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and the Board of Supervisors has endorsed an aggressive effort to reduce local emissions through innovative approaches. The Climate Action Strategy includes a vulnerability assessment to evaluate how susceptible our local environment is to the effects of climate change. It also suggests policy choices our county may need to adopt in order to address climate change impacts such as sea level rise and changing precipitation patterns.

The biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is from our transportation network. Vehicles generate over half of the greenhouse gas emissions in our community. New emission and mileage standards put in place by the state and federal governments will be helpful in achieving the reduction of these emissions in the future. Additionally, the County's effort to look at future development through the Transit Corridors process, as well as development of the new "rail trail," will help in this area.

The second biggest GHG emissions sector is related to energy for homes and businesses, which account for almost 37% of the total community GHG emissions. The County is looking into conducting a feasibility study to understand the opportunities and challenges associated with creating a multi-jurisdictional power purchase agency, often referred to as Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). CCA agencies purchase power, set rates and operate a variety of targeted conservation programs. With a CCA we can choose the amount of renewable energy we want to purchase, set utility rates, reinvest any revenue back into the community, and operate a transparent process for setting rates and reinvesting revenue. Click here to find out more about CCA.

Lastly, the impacts of climate change on sea level rise, wild fires, flooding and temperatures will have considerable impacts on our local ecosystems and life as we know it over the next 100 years. Low-lying areas such as Twin Lakes Beach, Corcoran Lagoon and Moran Lake are at the greatest risk with rising sea levels, greater storm intensity, and the resultant flooding which could affect much larger areas. Additionally, higher air temperatures could affect our agricultural industry and the frequency of wild fires.

The Climate Action Strategy reviews a host of policy choices that the County will begin to investigate for possible adoption over the next few years, to prepare for these changes. I encourage you to become informed. You can read the Climate Action Strategy by clicking here.