The City of Santa Fe seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 in a way that not only reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also significantly alleviates poverty, supports a thriving economy, and ensures a sustainable environment.
The Climate Working Group, on behalf of the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission, developed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the City of Santa Fe, the Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA), and Santa Fe County. The inventory used standards of measurement adopted by the Compact of Mayors, a global coalition of cities committed to addressing climate change, which the City of Santa Fe joined in 2015.
The inventory is primarily territorial-based. This means that the emissions are those that are produced within the geographic boundaries of the chosen jurisdictions. The notable exception is electricity, which is usually generated outside of the jurisdiction boundaries, but is included since it is a significant emissions source.
The inventory, comprising sector by sector data from the year 2015, is shown in the figure below.
The Climate Working Group, on behalf of the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission, developed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the City of Santa Fe, the Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA), and Santa Fe County. The inventory used standards of measurement adopted by the Compact of Mayors, a global coalition of cities committed to addressing climate change, which the City of Santa Fe joined in 2015.
The inventory is primarily territorial-based. This means that the emissions are those that are produced within the geographic boundaries of the chosen jurisdictions. The notable exception is electricity, which is usually generated outside of the jurisdiction boundaries, but is included since it is a significant emissions source.
The inventory, comprising sector by sector data from the year 2015, is shown in the figure below.
The figure reveals that the largest emission sectors come from on-road transportation (48-50%), followed by electricity (28-30%), and heating (17-18%) in the three nested jurisdictions. Stated another way, buildings (heating and electricity) and transportation are responsible for about 96% of the territorial GHG emissions for the City, MPA, and County.
Additional sectors considered, including aviation, rail, wastewater, solid waste, and livestock (all contributing about 1%) are small in magnitude relative to the primary contributors. However, when it comes to enacting carbon mitigation policies or projects, every sector must be carefully scrutinized to identify where the lowest hanging fruit resides, in terms of the mitigation costs and co-benefits for projects or policies. The complete inventory can be downloaded below:
What are some issues?
Environment
- Santa Fe’s electricity, heating, and on-road transportation sectors contribute over 1 million tons of CO2 to atmosphere each year, contributing to climate change.
- NOx, SOx, and particulate matter from tail-pipe emissions from cars, coal power plant for electricity contribute to haze and acid rain, and contribute to respiratory illnesses.
- Many low carbon solutions such as electric or hybrid vehicles, roof-top solar PV, efficient appliances, are more accessible to wealthier households.
- The Santa Fe community spends over 350 million dollars each year paying for electricity, heating, and gasoline and diesel.
- The City of Cleveland Climate Action Plan (2013) found key benefits of taking climate action include “local job creation and economic development”.
Let's Take Action!
Each topic area of the 25 Year Plan had a group of 5-10 experts from the community who worked together to develop a set of GOALS and the ACTIONS that can help to reach those goals. Below are some of the PRIORITY ACTIONS that the group thought would have impact and should be prioritized to reach the GOALS. As well, here is a link to an excellent booklet that explains how you can reduce your own carbon footprint!
GOAL 1: Carbon-free electricity grid
GOAL 2: Low-carbon transportation system
GOAL 3: Zero energy homes and businesses
GOAL 4: Equitable project and policy implementation
GOAL 1: Carbon-free electricity grid
- Advocate for statewide de-carbonization of utility portfolios by creating a regional utility advocacy coalition that will weigh in on utility-related legislation and PRC regulatory issues that increase state RPS and allow community choice aggregation.
- Scale up rooftop solar PV through increased PR, legislation to support community solar, and increased financing options to pay for solar (such as PACE).
GOAL 2: Low-carbon transportation system
- Implement incentives for smart growth (e.g., high density development in overlay districts).
- Increase use of public transit (e.g. development along transportation corridors, increase route frequency).
- Provide incentives for more efficient vehicles (e.g., cash for clunkers, SUV tax, EV and hybrid vehicle incentives).
GOAL 3: Zero energy homes and businesses
- Increase energy efficiency in the existing stock of homes and businesses through incentives and regulations (e.g., incentives for energy retrofits, energy scores for sale listing, energy standards for rentals).
GOAL 4: Equitable project and policy implementation
- Adopt Triple Bottom Line practices so that programs and policies are Equitable, Environmentally Responsible & Economically Empowering.