SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Sacramento began tracking its greenhouse gas emissions in 2005, and it's dropped 34% as of 2022.
But Steinberg said Tuesday he wants emissions to drop another 80% by 2030, so how does he plan to make it happen?
The 400 city-owned buildings encompassing 4.7 million square feet receive their energy from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) -- 63% of which is carbon-free.
"For $1 million a year we can substitute out all that natural gas, all the nonrenewable energy and we can get to 100% renewable supply from SMUD for everything the city does," Steinberg said. "We can find $1 million to ensure we are 100% for city-owned and operated buildings."
Background
The recently announced acceleration in Sacramento's climate action push comes shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom sent California lawmakers his list of climate actions he wants them to take.
Steinberg shares the same 100% green gas emissions ambition not only with state lawmakers, but with SMUD as well.
The utilities company has initiatives like SMUD’s Greenergy program which allows customers to opt into 100% carbon-free electricity.
City officials like Steinberg share the same goal as SMUD -- getting to 0% greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
