County on pace to meet 2030 climate action goals

Shauni Lyles

County of San Diego Communications Office

The county is making climate action progress by providing clean air and water, green jobs and improving public health, according to the 2022 climate action report.

The county is helping the community thrive by protecting the region’s diverse natural resources. In 2022, county teleworking and alternate schedules avoided 36.5 million miles of commuting.

The county also reduced electricity consumption at its buildings by 46%, planted 3,913 trees and conserved more than 1,000 acres of open space. These accomplishments account for more than 25% of the 2030 emission reduction goals.

Here are some of the county’s climate action measures:

The acquisition of open space and agricultural easements.

Tree planting initiatives and rain barrel programs.

The reduction of emissions associated with fuel consumed by county fleet vehicles.

The use of solar photovoltaic energy which is a renewable source of energy generated at county facilities.

Since 2018 when the county officially began tracking climate action measures, it has:

Conserved 8,766 acres of open space.

Permanently set aside 2,135 acres of farmland.

Planted more than 30,000 trees.

Created 369 miles of bike lanes.

Added 56 public electric vehicle charging stations.

Distributed 10,493 rain barrels.

Continued to support the use of clean energy by waiving solar permit fees.

Updates on all county greenhouse gas reduction measures can be found at https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/sustainability/dashboard/.

The county also continued to involve the community in other sustainability-related efforts, and implemented the Electric Vehicle Roadmap and updated the Climate Action Plan (CAP). The county is developing the Regional Decarbonization Framework to plan for a zero-carbon future for the region. For more on the CAP update, visit https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/sustainability/cap.html.