With a population of approximately 800,000 residents, San Francisco is California’s fourth-largest city. San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area have their fair share of climate change challenges. Over the past century, the Bay’s sea level has risen eight inches, damaging local population and ecosystems. The damage is compounded by unprecedented erosion brought on by the 2015-2016 El Niño storms. The 2012-2016 drought drove statewide moisture to the lowest levels seen in more than 1,000 years. As climate change drags on, the whole Bay expects more “boom and bust” rain cycles with very wet and very dry years. These cycles exacerbate the area’s “large-fire” years, which have gotten steadily worse and more common over the past 80 years.
San Francisco has ambitious climate change prevention and preparedness goals, having successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 48% below 1990 levels, even as its economy and population have grown. Mostly hydropower, but also some solar and wind power, provide more than 70% of the electricity consumed in San Francisco.
In 2021, San Francisco released their Climate Action Plan, outlining pathways for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and simultaneously tackling issues like affordable housing, public health and racial and social equity. The Plan’s goals include reducing solid waste generation 15% by 2030, 100% renewable energy by 2040, new affordable housing, carbon sequestration efforts, tree restoration, composting, and shifting to low-carbon transportation. In 2023 SF Environment and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission added a Water Supply Addendum to the Climate Action Plan. You can track the progress of the plan’s goals on a dashboard here. The city released a draft list of actions for an updated Climate Action Plan in 2025, which are currently under review for public comment.
CREDIT: BLOOMBERG
