Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi
Photo by Luke Thomas
By Ari Burack
April 17, 2008
A proposed ordinance moving through the San Francisco legislature would establish enforceable greenhouse gas reduction targets, as opposed to mere declarations by other cities, according to Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.
Mirkarimi’s legislation would set firm targets that in addition to reducing the city’s greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, would further reduce emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2017, 40 percent by 2025, and 80 percent by 2050.
The legislation would exceed current state requirements that greenhouse gas emissions be lowered to 1990 levels by 2020, and according to Mirkarimi, would give San Francisco the strongest emissions regulations of any city in the state.
Mirkarimi today called the legislation “an attempt to codify…the best intentions and objectives of city government.”
He noted various “pronouncements and declarations” at the local and national level calling for a reduction of greenhouse gases.
“What is absent,” said Mirkarimi, “are any attached frameworks.”
Under his proposed law, city departments would be required to meet the reductions targets, and to issue action plans annually with specific recommendations.
The departments would be given latitude to develop their own plans to reach those goals, Mirkarimi said. The effort would be coordinated by the city’s Department of the Environment.
The law would be enforced through incentives, or punitive actions through the budget process, described by Mirkarimi as “passive enforcement.”
According to Mirkarimi, changes could be implemented to improve energy-efficient building and energy usage standards, through sustainable transportation programs, and by increasing the usage of solar, wind and tidal power by the city.
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s climate advisor Wade Crowfoot said today that Newsom fully supports the legislation. He added that the mayor’s office believes implementation would be “revenue neutral.”
Mirkarimi said his goal was for San Francisco, which he said is currently emitting greenhouse gases at 10 percent below 1990 levels, to eventually have zero emissions, as opposed to merely offsetting emissions through a “carbon neutral” policy.
“You can’t really sit on the fence when it comes to global warming,” Mirkarimi said.
The Board of Supervisors City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee gave the ordinance preliminary approval this afternoon.
It will likely be considered by the full board April 29, according to Mirkarimi’s office.
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