Santa Barbara’s Climate Progress Report Well Received
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Santa Barbara City Council received a two-year progress report on climate.
The city’s Energy and Climate Division Manager Jefferson Litten gave the presentation.
“Today was a great opportunity for council to hear a two-year progress update on what our department and what all the city departments are doing to achieve our climate action plan goal and I think it was really well received by council and we also talked about what we are ready to do in the next three years,” said Litten.
Litten said his department is working with other departments to achieve the city of Santa Barbara’s goals.
“The city has really ambitious climate action plan goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2035. So that is going to be a combination of adding EV charging, converting our buildings to electric buildings and adding solar storage where ever we can.”
He said the council responded with encouraging words.
The Climate Action Plan adopted in July of 2024 serves as a roadmap for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The report says greenhouse gas emission primarily comes from on road passenger transportation and building energy use.
Clean energy programs include street and community trees, residential and city EV charging, and home electrification.
Members of the public can watch a recording of the council meeting on YouTube.
“The presentation was really well received by council, it was great to see praise for the department and our other departmental partners for all the work we have been trying to do to advance our climate goals,” said Litten.
In the next few years the city will focus on municipal building electrification and solar.
The city will incentivize residential solar and storage offering and shifts to use electricity during off peaks hours.
The city will replace vehicles with EVS.
It will continue building bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and improvements.
The city will also create a student climate innovation grant competition and explore partnerships with UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College.
The current climate has been a topic of conversation.
People visiting Tuesday’s farmers market on State Street felt the afternoon heat.
It was about 86 degrees before 5.p.m.
Jenna Davis wanted to make sure her children didn’t get overheated.
“It is always changing, it is definitely getting warmer and I feel like summer is just shifting to be later and later now, so kids are going back to school, but it is going to be hot at their school, and in the classroom, so I am glad to hear the city is doing things though and trying to move positive change forward and trying to adjust to this warming climate, we’ve got,” said Davis.
The Library On The Go on State Street during the market had staff on hand to recommend books about the climate.
One librarian recommended a book that includes climate inspired poetry entitled “You A Here, Poetry in the Natural World.”
The city is gearing up for a EV Charging Station ribbon cutting at the Eastside Library on Aug. 26th.
For a link to the report visit https://SantaBarbaraCA.gov
The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.
Click here to follow the original article.