SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento County officials rolled out the next phase of their 2020 Climate Emergency Resolution plan when they appointed 13 sustainable climate advocates and experts to their task force earlier this month.
According to the plan, the goal of Sacramento's Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force is to push the county toward reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. Carbon neutrality is the balancing of carbon emissions output with carbon emissions removal.
The 13 members are set to serve as an official advisory body to the county and Board of Supervisors on necessary climate actions to reach carbon neutrality.
An initial meeting is set for September, according to county sustainability manager, John Lundgren.
He says they'll discuss roles and strategies to make Sacramento a county that is not only carbon neutral, but also more attractive for grant-funded projects that will further reduce its carbon footprint in the community.
"It doesn't help the Board of Supervisors and the community as a whole make any decisions if two government bureaucrats (just) say, 'Well, trust us,'" he told ABC10 on Friday. "So the power of the taskforce is it's 13 citizen members who represent a participatory decision-making process."
The task force
Lundgren told ABC10 part of the reason they're bringing in a civilian-led task force is to stay competitive in the field of grant funding requests.
Federal and state grants favor counties and cities with big initiatives and big collaborations, he said.
"(It) shows the grant reviewers that, 'Hey, we've already thought about it, we didn't just find the notice out there and decided to take a shot at trying to get this grant money' — we already know how we want to use it," Lundgren said.
Sacramento County's task force appointments come as Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced on Aug. 16 the city's goal for 100% renewable energy in all city-owned buildings.
Gov. Gavin Newsom also urged California lawmakers to pass a slew of statewide climate action bills.
The 13 Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force members were chosen out of a pool of about 47 applications. Some of the agencies and organizations with representatives who helped choose the final task force members are:
- National Weather Service
- Sacramento Air Quality Management District
- Sacramento County Planning and Environmental Review Division
Incoming task force member Saheb Gulati is set to serve for two years, focusing on environmental justice advising.
The Sacramento Country Day School sophomore said his mother runs a farm and has to deal with the negative effects of emission in her work.
"I go there a lot, and I think there are a lot of inefficiencies that we can look at to try and reduce emissions from a variety of perspectives," said Gulati, "Because I think there's more than just directly cutting off emissions."
Lundgren says he's hopes to meet with the 13-member task force in September to discuss rules, goals and the roles of each member.
