Fremont City Council Meeting: 06/20/23 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: Community Development
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Plans, Policies and Studies
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 4884) DOC ID: 4884
Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 1
CLIMATE READY FREMONT PUBLIC DRAFT - Presentation of the draft Climate Action Plan (CAP) update for Council review and release to the public for comments
Contact Persons:
Name: Rachel DiFranco Dan Schoenholz
Title: Sustainability Manager Community Development Director Div/Dept: Community Development Community Development
Phone: 510-494-4451 510-494-4438
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: The City of Fremont is updating its Climate Action Plan (CAP) to direct local actions that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the atmosphere as well as prepare for and adjust to the effects of climate change. The CAP update, entitled Climate Ready Fremont, presents a series of measures that target a 55 percent reduction in GHG emissions from both a community-wide level as well as at the municipal level by the year 2030 from a 2005 baseline year, equivalent to a 30 percent reduction from Fremont’s 2018 GHG emissions levels. Climate Ready Fremont also sets Fremont on a pathway toward achieving net zero GHG emissions by the year 2045, a target established by State law and endorsed by Council in 2019.
The draft CAP includes eight focus areas for emissions reductions: buildings and energy, infrastructure and equipment, land use and mobility, materials and waste, natural and urban landscapes, adaptation and resiliency, green economy, and public participation and engagement. Each focus area contains specific strategies, measures, and actions that define the activities, projects, programs, or policies that the City will implement or support to advance its GHG reduction and adaptation goals.
The draft CAP also includes a “Game Plan” which identifies the measures that will be the highest priority for staff in the first three years after adoption. Some of these measures, particularly those related to City operations, are already underway. Others, particularly those involving potential changes to City code requirements, will require additional Council action and will be the subject of in-depth staff analysis and public input as Council considers them.
Staff is requesting comments from the Council on the Climate Ready Fremont draft document and direction on the next steps for completion of the document, including releasing the draft CAP for a public comment period to inform staff’s preparation of a final version of the plan.
BACKGROUND: Fremont has long been a leader in environmental sustainability. In 2011, Fremont was one of the first cities to incorporate sustainability in its General Plan in a significant way: sustainability serves as the first element and the central theme throughout the General Plan, with a vision of transitioning Fremont from an auto-oriented suburb into a sustainable and strategically urban city. In 2012, Fremont adopted its first Climate Action Plan (CAP) to serve as a roadmap for achieving the sustainability vision of the General Plan Council Staff Report (ID # 4884) Meeting of June 20, 2023 Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 2
through the implementation of local measures that together would reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 percent from a 2005 baseline level by the year 2020.
Adoption of the first CAP accelerated the City’s efforts related to energy and water use efficiency, renewable energy deployment, clean and multimodal transportation infrastructure, waste reduction and pollution prevention, and sustainable land use planning.
Through a combination of the City’s local implementation efforts paired with technology advancements and state and federal policy changes, the City achieved a 24 percent GHG reduction in GHG emissions by the year 2018. Recognizing the need to update Fremont’s GHG target in alignment with state climate policy and international science-based climate targets beyond the year 2020, the Environmental Sustainability Commission recommended and Council adopted a Carbon Neutrality Resolution in 2019. The Resolution set a mid-term goal of achieving a 55 percent GHG emission reduction from a 2005 baseline level by the year 2030 and a long-term goal of becoming a carbon neutral city no later than 2045.
Post-Carbon Community Framework
With the adoption of the Carbon Neutrality Resolution, Fremont also established a Post- Carbon Community Framework to guide the update to the Climate Action Plan. The Post- Carbon Community Framework presented the following values to serve as the foundation of the CAP update:
• Equity & Access: Ensure that all people have the opportunity to benefit equally from climate solutions, while not taking on an unequal burden of climate impacts. • Efficiency & Innovation: Promote the efficient use of resources and the adoption of clean and climate-smart technologies and techniques.
• Health & Wellness: Safeguard and enhance the ability of the community to live, work, play, connect, and thrive in a healthy social and physical environment. • Resiliency & Capacity-Building: Provide education and training on the opportunities offered by a more resilient future and encourage sustainable behaviors across all sectors of the community.
In addition, the Post-Carbon Community Framework identified seven key strategies to be incorporated throughout the CAP update:
1. Clean & Renewable Power: Deploy and efficiently use clean, renewable, and locally-sourced electricity generated onsite or transmitted through the power grid.
2. Electrification & Fossil Fuel Phase-Out: Upgrade and replace carbon-intensive, fossil fuel-based infrastructure and combustion power throughout the transportation and building sectors with clean electric power.
3. Carbon Sequestration: Drawdown carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through ecological and/or technological methods and capture and store in plants, soils, water systems, and other solid forms.
4. Mobility & Connectivity: Develop and enhance safe, multimodal, accessible, equitable, intelligent, and clean motorized and non-motorized travel options, transit modes, transportation infrastructure, and community connectivity.
5. Resource Conservation & Elimination of Waste: Conserve natural and manufactured resources by means of the responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials.
Council Staff Report (ID # 4884) Meeting of June 20, 2023 Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 3
6. Restorative Ecology & Green Infrastructure: Restore, rehabilitate, and repurpose degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats through active interventions. Incorporate green infrastructure and ecosystem services into community design.
7. Climate Adaptation & Resilience: Prepare for, limit, learn from, and adapt to the negative effects of climate change through proactive and holistic planning and response at infrastructural, cultural, and institutional levels.
Community Outreach and Engagement Efforts
Utilizing this framework, staff initiated a yearlong community outreach and engagement effort beginning in early 2020 to solicit input from community stakeholders and members of the public. This outreach helped staff to better understand community concerns regarding climate change and gauge community interests related to potential actions that Fremont could undertake to reduce its GHG emissions and increase its climate resiliency. Staff also shared messaging regarding the CAP update process in City newsletters, through social media, through email blasts, and on a dedicated City webpage. All outreach was conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A summary of outreach conducted is included as an attachment to this report.
Based on the input and feedback received from the public, staff has worked closely with a consultant team from Ascent Environmental, Inc. to prepare the CAP update. Throughout the plan development process, staff has regularly solicited feedback from both the Environmental Sustainability Commission (ESC) as well as from internal departments and divisions critical to the CAP’s implementation. On June 1, 2023, the ESC voted 5-0 to recommend the CAP to Council. A summary of comments received from the Commission is included as an attachment to this report.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The CAP update, titled Climate Ready Fremont, identifies sustainable and adaptive infrastructure, technologies, policies, and programs that the City will implement to achieve the GHG emission reduction targets envisioned within the Carbon Neutrality Resolution and Post-Carbon Community Framework. Climate Ready Fremont’s vision is not only to address climate change, but also improve quality of life, promote equity, and bolster resiliency across the community.
Vision and Objectives for Climate Ready Fremont
Climate Ready Fremont envisions the following future:
“Fremont is a healthy, safe, and livable climate ready community that provides for economic and social opportunity across all ages, cultures, and abilities through equitable, resilient, and adaptive technologies, infrastructure, policies, and programs.”
To achieve this vision, Climate Ready Fremont has two overarching objectives:
1) to reduce GHG emissions from local activities to achieve GHG reduction targets; and 2) to build community resilience to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Alignment with Statewide Climate Policy
The GHG emissions reduction targets within Climate Ready Fremont are consistent with the Council’s adopted emission targets, which in turn are consistent with statewide GHG Council Staff Report (ID # 4884) Meeting of June 20, 2023 Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 4
emissions targets. As directed by the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2016 (Senate Bill 32) and the California Climate Crisis Act of 2022 (Assembly Bill 1279), the State of California aims to:
• Reduce annual GHG emissions to 40 percent below 1990* levels by 2030, • Achieve net zero GHG emissions (i.e. carbon neutrality) no later than 2045, • Achieve and maintain net negative GHG emissions thereafter, and • Reduce statewide anthropogenic GHG emissions to 85 percent below 1990 levels by 2045.
*Note that the State GHG reduction targets utilize a 1990 baseline year, whereas the City’s uses a 2005 baseline year. The City’s use of a 2005 baseline is consistent with other local governments, many of which do not have a baseline GHG inventory going back further than 2005. The City’s 55 percent GHG emissions reduction by 2030 from a 2005 baseline is therefore in alignment with the State’s 40 percent GHG emissions reduction target by 2030 from a 1990 baseline.
The Global Climate Context
California’s 2030 and 2045 targets are in line with the scientifically established levels needed to limit the rise in global temperature to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (°C) | 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) above pre-industrial levels. A 2°C rise in global temperature is the warming threshold at which major climate disruptions, such as super droughts and rising sea levels, are projected. These targets also support efforts to limit the global temperature increase even further to no more than 1.5°C | 2.7°F, in alignment with the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Paris Agreement of 2015. While the actions of a single city alone will not solve the climate crisis, Fremont’s climate action targets can make a positive impact through local leadership and cumulative local action.
Climate Ready Fremont Forecast and Reduction Targets
Climate Ready Fremont forecasts future emissions for the years 2030 and 2045, which align with the state’s GHG reduction target years established in key legislation and policies, including the aforementioned Senate Bill 32 and Assembly Bill 1279. This emissions forecast, termed the “No Local Action Scenario”, represents the absolute minimum emissions reductions that could be achieved by currently adopted state and federal legislation and regulations and serves as the baseline projection from which Climate Ready Fremont measures are quantified for their reduction potential. The difference between the “No Local Action Scenario” of future forecasted emissions and the City’s established GHG emissions reduction targets represents the “Local Emissions Gap.” Currently-adopted State and federal regulations alone will not be sufficient to close Fremont’s “Local Emissions Gap.” Therefore, Climate Ready Fremont aims to achieve these reductions through a series of local strategies, measures, and actions that can be implemented both within City operations as well as at the community-scale. Climate Ready Fremont presents mitigation and adaptation strategies, measures, and actions that, in combination, aim to achieve an interim GHG reduction target of 55 percent by 2030 from a 2005 baseline year (equivalent to a 30 percent reduction from 2018 GHG emission levels) as well as prepare the City for climatic changes that are already underway.
Council Staff Report (ID # 4884) Meeting of June 20, 2023 Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 5
Organization of Plan
Climate Ready Fremont consists of the following chapters:
• Snapshot (Executive Summary) includes the Plan-at-a-Glance (summary of strategies and measures) and a section on how to read the plan. • Chapter 1 - Introduction includes vision for Climate Ready Fremont, history of Fremont’s climate leadership, discussion of climate mitigation versus adaptation measures, and a summary of community engagement and outreach activities related to the plan development.
• Chapter 2 - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, Forecasts, & Targets discusses historical, current, and future GHG emissions, already adopted state policies that affect GHG reductions, and the establishment of local emissions reductions targets.
• Chapter 3 - Climate Ready Strategies & Measures discusses the local emissions gap that Climate Ready Fremont measures aim to close and presents the full list of strategies, measures, and actions organized within eight different focus areas. • Chapter 4 - Implementation and Monitoring presents the “Game Plan” of priority implementation actions the City will target within the first few years of CAP adoption and discusses California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) streamlining, regular monitoring and updates, ongoing engagement, and potential funding sources that support the plan’s implementation.
• Appendices include the GHG Inventory & Forecast Memo, the Measure List and GHG Quantification Memo, and the Municipal GHG Inventory, Forecasts, and Measure Quantification Memo prepared by the consultant team.
The Game Plan
The Climate Ready Fremont Game Plan, found within Chapter 4 of the plan, presents a series of short-term priority actions that staff will focus on implementing within the first three years of plan adoption. Priority actions identified in the Game Plan are those that staff identified as being feasible to implement in the next few years due to their GHG reduction impacts, cost-effectiveness, (low) up-front cost or availability of funding, technological feasibility, existing policy support, ease of implementation, community support, and additional co-benefits.
Some noteworthy implementation actions within the Game Plan include:
Community-Level
• Establishing East Bay Community Energy’s (EBCE’s) Renewable 100 as the default clean power service plan for all Fremont residents and businesses. • Adopting electrification and green building reach codes for new residential and nonresidential construction and retrofits.
• Adopting reach codes to enhance EV readiness requirements for new construction of homes and businesses.
• Partnering with EBCE to install fast-charging mobility hubs on public-facing City owned property serving local multifamily property residents. • Beginning tree plantings in targeted neighborhood with lower urban tree canopy and in underserved areas, with a goal of 800 trees annually.
Council Staff Report (ID # 4884) Meeting of June 20, 2023 Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 6
City Operations
• Establishing an all-electric/zero net energy design requirement for all new City facilities.
• Replacing existing gas-powered HVAC units at City facilities with electric-source heat pumps wherever technologically and economically feasible. • Partnering with EBCE to install microgrids (solar + battery systems) on City-owned public-facing emergency facilities.
• Replacing conventional City fleet vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs) according to City vehicle replacement schedule and installing the necessary EV charging infrastructure to support full fleet conversion.
• Piloting reusable food ware options at community-facing City services and programming, including at the Aqua Adventure Water Park. • Applying compost/mulch to landscapes at City facilities to improve water retention and support carbon sequestration.
It should be noted that, as has been the case with the current CAP, some measures included in the plan may be modified or eliminated during implementation based on measure-specific analysis, public input, or court decisions. Furthermore, there will likely be efforts that the City decides to undertake that were not envisioned within Climate Ready Fremont, but make sense to pursue due to funding availability, partnership opportunities, or ease of implementation. In all cases, staff will highlight for Council the GHG-reduction impacts of measure-specific decisions.
In addition, as the City moves beyond the first three years of implementation, new technological advances or regional, state, or federal level policy changes could begin to have a significant impact on Climate Ready Fremont implementation activities. Such shifts could even supersede the ability or need for the City to locally implement some of the measures initially envisioned within Climate Ready Fremont. This changing nature of climate policy and the real potential for advancements in technological solutions will require regular updates to the Game Plan over time.
CEQA Streamlining
Implementation of Climate Ready Fremont will require that new development is constructed with more sustainable and low-carbon features than existing development. New development projects that are consistent with the growth projections and applicable GHG reduction measures in Climate Ready Fremont are eligible for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) streamlining, per the provisions of State CEQA Guidelines Section 15183.5. Under these provisions, a project that is subject to discretionary review and is consistent with the City’s General Plan growth projections can show consistency with applicable GHG reduction measures in Climate Ready Fremont, and the level of analysis for the project required under CEQA can be streamlined.
Once Climate Ready Fremont has been officially adopted, a CEQA guidelines and consistency review checklist that aligns with Climate Ready Fremont will be provided to project developers by staff. This will serve as the mechanism that is used to demonstrate consistency with Climate Ready Fremont and contains GHG reduction measures applicable to development projects that are required to be implemented on a project-by-project basis Council Staff Report (ID # 4884) Meeting of June 20, 2023 Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 7
to ensure that the specified emissions targets identified in Climate Ready Fremont are achieved.
FISCAL IMPACT: The City will incur costs to implement the measures included in Climate Ready Fremont. These include initial start-up, ongoing administration, staffing, and enforcement costs. Many of these costs are already budgeted: for example, Sustainability Division staff will lead implementation of many measures as part of their annual work program; and the Capital Budget includes an appropriation to facilitate the conversion of the City’s fleet to EVs. Some measures, such as electrifying City buildings, will likely result in a marginal increase in the cost of individual construction/rehab projects, at least in the short term until all-electric projects achieve cost parity with conventional construction. It should be noted that some measures, such as partnering with EBCE to install solar/battery microgrids at City facilities, will likely save the City money while also contributing to emission reductions.
Community-facing measures will also have varying fiscal impacts. As with all-electric requirements imposed on City buildings, an all-electric requirement on new construction will likely result in marginal increases in the cost of construction in the short term. Changing the default electricity plan for Fremont customers to “Renewable 100” will result in increased utility costs for those who choose to remain on that rate plan. Other measures, such as the City partnering with EBCE to establish EV fast-charging hubs on City property, will have no fiscal impact to residents or businesses but will provide an important charging option for EV owners.
Fiscal impacts related to individual implementation measures that are not yet adopted or that require a new appropriation will be analyzed and provided to Council as those measures are considered. In all cases, staff will be proactive in seeking cost-effective implementation and strategic funding opportunities and developing partnerships to lessen those impacts.
It should be noted that outside funding opportunities such as rebates, grants, credits, financing, technical assistance, and green jobs training are available from a variety of partner organizations, including local utilities, regional regulatory agencies, joint power authorities, and state and federal agencies. However, it should also be noted that continued City funding for capital improvements, community programs, and operations and maintenance will be key to fully implementing Climate Ready Fremont.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: This agenda item seeks only to receive Council feedback to staff regarding any desired changes to the draft Climate Ready Fremont plan and Council direction to release draft Climate Ready Fremont plan for a period of public review and comment, and accordingly, does not authorize any action that could cause a potentially significant impact on the environment and is exempt from CEQA review pursuant to, without limitation, CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) (no possibility of significant environmental effect), 15262 (feasibility and planning studies), and/or 15378(a) and (b)(definition of a “project”)
Staff anticipates the Climate Ready Fremont plan will be adopted in conjunction with an addendum to the City’s certified General Plan Environmental Impact Report (EIR) (SCH#20100820060) in accordance with Section 15164 of the CEQA Guidelines.
Council Staff Report (ID # 4884) Meeting of June 20, 2023 Updated: 6/15/2023 5:57 PM by Susan Gauthier Page 8
When adopted, Climate Ready Fremont, as currently proposed, would bea “qualified” climate action plan under state law, which will allow project-specific environmental documents, if eligible, to tier from and/or incorporate by reference Climate Ready Fremont’s programmatic review of GHG impacts in their cumulative impact analyses. Climate Ready Fremont meets the requirements under Section 15183.5 of the State CEQA Guidelines as a qualified plan for the reduction of GHG emissions for use in cumulative impact analysis pertaining to new development projects.
ATTACHMENTS:
• Climate Ready Fremont Public Draft_June 2023
• Appendix A_Fremont CAP Forecast Memo
• Appendix B_Fremont GHG Reduction Measure Memo
• Appendix C_Municipal GHG Inventory, Forecasts, and Measure Quantification Memo • CAP Community Outreach Conducted
• CAP Summary of Comments Provided by the ESC
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Provide feedback to staff regarding any desired changes to the draft Climate Ready Fremont plan.
2. Direct staff to release the draft Climate Ready Fremont plan for a period of public review and comment.