City Manager’s Office-Sustainability
DATE: September 29, 2026
TO: Council Sustainability Committee
FROM: Rebecca Lucky, Sustainability Manager
Danielle Lee, Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer
Via: Audrey D. Seymour, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Council Sustainability Committee (CSC) take the following actions:
1. Recommend that the City Council adopt the City's five -year community decarbonization plan, titled "Climate Forward Mountain View: Building Momentum Toward a Carbon-Free Future.”
2. Provide final feedback to staff on the plan before it is presented to the City Council for adoption.
BACKGROUND
Purpose
The purpose of this item is to present " Climate Forward Mountain View: Building Momentum Toward a Carbon -Free Future" (referred to as "Climate Forward"), which is the City's five -year community decarbonization plan for 2027–2031. This draft plan is included in Attachment 1 for the CSC to review and recommend to the City Council.
Climate Forward reflects the direction provided by the CSC and City Council based on the City's decarbonization goal analysis, multiple discussions with the CSC, and the May 26, 2026 City Council Study Session. The plan maintains the City's commitment to achieving communitywide carbon neutrality by 2045 and establishes a five -year framework for implementing local actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissio ns while preparing the community for ongoing decarbonization efforts.
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
The plan also allows the City to adapt to changes in regulations, funding, technology, and community needs. It details actions the City can take, support, or advocate for, as well as opportunities for collaboration with various partners.
Staff is requesting the CSC's recommendation to the City Council to adopt Climate Forward and offer any final feedback on the plan before it is presented for consideration.
Development of the Plan
Mountain View has been actively pursuing community-wide greenhouse gas reductions through successive Sustainability Action Plans (SAPs). The fourth plan, SAP -4, identified the need to develop a community decarbonization strategy and implementation plan as part of the City’s sustainability efforts.
On April 21, 2020, the City Council set a goal of achieving community -wide carbon neutrality by 2045. As climate efforts progressed, the CSC expressed interest in exploring whether this goal could be accelerated and what actions would be necessary for deeper emissions reductions. On June 22, 2022, the CSC requested that staff prepare a decarbonization plan to assess the feasibility of shifting the City’s carbon-neutrality goal from 2045 to 2035.
At that time, the City was also implementing SAP-4, which had been adopted for the fiscal years 2019-20 through 2021 -22 and included 81 sustainability initiatives across various areas. The implementation of SAP -4 involved developing new programs, staffing, securing funding, and performance reporting, all of which were affected by the timing and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the implementation of SAP -4 and other sustainability priorities continued during the period following the CSC's 2022 guidance.
As the City progressed with SAP -4 and evaluated the resources and scope needed for the next phase of climate planning, staff developed a broader approach for a decarbonization analysis and implementation plan. On November 19, 2024, the City Council approved a scope of work with Cascadia Consulting Group to assess the feasibility of accelerating the City’s carbon -neutrality goal and to create a five-year decarbonization plan.
The CSC provided guidance on the decarbonization analysis and potential local actions to be included in the five-year plan through multiple meetings held in 2025 and 2026. Notably, on June 26, 2025, the CSC reviewed the analysis and considered potential local actions. The CSC provided additional feedback on actions and modeling assumptions on November 6, 2025. On April 30, 2026, the CSC reviewed the proposed five-year planning approach and the draft action portfolio.
These discussions were instrumental in shaping both the technical analysis and the actions included in the final plan, titled Climate Forward Mountain View.
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
The resulting analysis projected community -wide greenhouse gas emissions through 2045, considered the anticipated effects of federal, state, regional, and local policies, and evaluated local actions that could help reduce emissions. The final decarbonization analysis was presented to the CSC on June 2, 2026, completing the technical groundwork that informed the development of the five-year plan.
Changing Policy Conditions
The decarbonization analysis highlighted the importance of maintaining flexibility in long -term climate planning. The initial analysis, adjusted for a business -as-usual scenario, indicated that about 7 percent of emissions in 2045 would still need to be ad dressed through local actions.
However, as federal and state policies evolved during the analysis period —particularly with the revocation of the federal waiver that supported California's Advanced Clean Cars II regulations— the projected share of emissions requiring local action increased to roughly 40 percent.
During the planning process and considering changing policy conditions and the analysis available at the time, the CSC recommended that the City maintain its adopted 2045 carbon- neutrality goal rather than pursue an earlier target. The CSC provided guidance to focus on a five -year implementation period that can adapt to changing circumstances. They acknowledged that, based on the analysis, the local actions available to the City might not lead to emissions reductions that are proportional to the five -year timeframe —such as achieving a 25 percent reduction by the end of that period. However, these actions could help create conditio ns that will enable more significant reductions in the future.
May 26, 2026 City Council Study Session
The City Council held a study session on May 26, 2026, to review the City’s decarbonization goal and provide feedback on the draft actions for the Five -Year Decarbonization Plan. The Council supported maintaining the carbon- neutrality goal for 2045 and developing a five -year implementation plan focused on local actions for electrifying buildings and transportation. They emphasized the importance of remaining flexible in response to evolving regulations, funding opportunities, technologies, and other relevant conditions.
Additionally, the Council expressed general support for the proposed action portfolio and provided further direction, which included:
• Expanding EV charging access, particularly at multifamily properties and through workplace charging opportunities for residents who cannot charge at home;
• Strengthening strategies related to mobile home electrification; and
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
• Providing more regular implementation updates, including progress indicators or a dashboard-style reporting approach.
These comments have been incorporated into the development of Climate Forward.
After the May 2026 Study Session, staff developed a draft plan titled "Climate Forward Mountain View: Building Momentum Toward a Carbon-Free Future" (Attachment 1) to turn this vision into a five-year implementation framework.
ANALYSIS
Climate Forward is the next phase of Mountain View's community decarbonization work. SAP -4 established the City's direction to develop and implement a community decarbonization strategy, while subsequent CSC and City Council direction, the decarbonization goal analysis, and existing City programs have provided the basis for this five-year plan.
The plan recognizes that Mountain View cannot achieve communitywide carbon neutrality through City action alone. Reaching the 2045 goal will also depend on broader changes in State and federal policy, regional requirements, utility programs and infrastructure, technology, markets, and the availability and affordability of low - and zero-emission alternatives, as well as actions by residents, businesses, and other community partners.
The plan moves this work from broad strategy development toward coordinated implementation of specific actions that can be advanced during the five -year period. It brings together existing programs and partnerships with actions that respond to the City's current emissions profile, available local authority, regional and State requirements, infrastructure needs, and changing market conditions.
Climate Forward Focus Areas
The decarbonization analysis found that transportation and natural gas use in buildings are expected to remain major sources of community emissions and therefore represent important areas for local action. CSC discussions similarly emphasized transportation electrification, building electrification, EV charging, transit and mobility improvements, and regional transportation coordination.
Climate Forward translates these findings into four primary areas of action:
• Clean Buildings
• Clean Transportation
• Zero Waste
• Ecosystem Sequestration
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
The plan also includes integrated actions addressing partnerships, advocacy, and implementation capacity.
The plan does not assume that the City can control the pace of communitywide decarbonization.
Instead, it identifies where the City can lead, invest, educate, coordinate, partner, advocate, test/pilot, or fill gaps left by broader programs and policies.
This approach is consistent with the CSC's prior direction that local government can accelerate implementation, fill policy gaps, support market transformation, pilot scalable programs, and encourage community participation, while recognizing that local ac tion alone cannot achieve communitywide carbon neutrality.
Climate Forward Action Portfolio
Climate Forward includes 29 actions organized into four primary focus areas, with integrated actions that support implementation across the plan. The full plan in Attachment 1 provides the opportunity, five-year work focus, and implementation information for each action. The table below provides a high-level overview of the actions included in the plan.
No. Action High-Level Purpose
CLEAN BUILDINGS
1 Electrification Readiness,
Outreach, and Incentives
Help residents, businesses, and property owners prepare for building electrification through education, incentives, and technical assistance.
2 Electrification Permit
Streamlining
Make electrification projects easier and more predictable to permit and complete.
3 Equity-Focused
Electrification
Improve access to electrification for building types and community members facing greater barriers.
4 Integration into City
Policies and Programs
Incorporate electrification considerations into related City programs, investments, and decisions.
5 Reach Codes for
Commercial Development
Evaluate opportunities to use available local authority to advance electrification in commercial development.
6 Zoning Incentives Explore development zoning incentives that can support electrification and related climate outcomes.
7 Neighborhood
Decarbonization Pilot
Test neighborhood-scale approaches that coordinate
building electrification with energy infrastructure
planning.
8 Regional Time-of-Sale
Partnership
Explore a regional approach to addressing existing
buildings when properties are sold.
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
No. Action High-Level Purpose
9 Regional Building
Performance Standards
Participate in regional efforts to develop longer-term
approaches for improving the performance of existing
larger buildings.
10 End of Natural Gas Flow
Goal
Develop the planning, infrastructure, legal, and financial pathway needed to evaluate a potential long-term
transition away from natural gas.
CLEAN TRANSPORTATION
11 EV Outreach, Education,
and Incentives
Help residents and businesses navigate EV adoption,
incentives, and charging options.
12 Multifamily EV Charging Expand on-site or nearby charging access for residents who face greater barriers to charging at home.
13 Workplace and Public EV
Charging
Expand charging opportunities for residents and
employees who cannot reliably charge at home.
14 Reliable City-Owned Public
Charging
Improve reliability, performance, charging speed,
maintenance, and capacity of existing City-owned
charging infrastructure.
15 Transit and Shuttle
Connections
Support convenient and connected transit and shuttle
options that provide alternatives to driving.
16 E-Bikes, E-Scooters, and
Connected Mobility
Expand lower-emission transportation options and
connections through micromobility.
17 Transportation Demand
Management
Reduce vehicle travel associated with development,
employers, and other transportation-generating
activities.
18 Active Transportation and
Safe Connections
Improve walking and bicycling infrastructure and
connections.
19 Transit-Oriented
Development and Parking
Management
Coordinate land use and parking strategies to support
reduced vehicle dependence.
20 Zero-Emission Delivery and
Rideshare
Explore emerging opportunities to reduce emissions from deliveries and passenger transportation services.
ZERO WASTE
21 Zero Waste Plan
Implementation
Continue implementing the City's Zero Waste Plan and
work toward the 2030 diversion goal.
22 Organics and Food Waste
Diversion
Reduce organic material sent to landfills and associated emissions.
23 Reuse and Waste
Prevention
Reduce waste generation and increase opportunities for
reuse.
24 Commercial and
Community Resource
Recovery
Improve waste reduction and resource recovery among
businesses, multifamily properties, and community
institutions.
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
No. Action High-Level Purpose
25 Next Phase of Zero Waste
Planning
Develop the City's approach to waste reduction and
resource recovery beyond 2030.
ECOSYSTEM SEQUESTRATION
26 Urban Forest Enhancement Strengthen the urban forest through planting, preservation, maintenance, and coordinated investment.
27 Natural Areas Conservation
and Restoration
Conserve and restore natural areas to increase carbon
sequestration and broader ecosystem benefits.
PARTNERSHIPS, ADVOCACY, AND IMPLEMENTATION CAPACITY
28 Advocacy and Legislative
Action
Advocate for state, federal, regional, and utility policies and funding that support Mountain View's climate goals. 29 Implementation Capacity
and Resources
Strengthen the organizational, financial, technical,
workforce, and partnership capacity needed to
implement the plan.
Adaptive Framework
A key feature of Climate Forward is its adaptive approach. Rather than setting a rigid sequence of policies that the City must follow regardless of changing circumstances, the plan identifies actions that can be taken under current conditions. It also esta blishes additional pathways that can be considered if there are changes in state, regional, utility, market, or technological conditions.
For instance, the actions outlined for clean buildings acknowledge that requirements established by the Bay Area Air District may significantly affect the need for , or the timing of, certain local policies. The decarbonization analysis illustrates this sensitivity. Under the modeled scenario in which Air District Rules 9 -4 and 9 -6 are implemented, the estimated incremental emissions reductions from local Reach Codes decline over time, from approximately 9,233 MT CO₂e 1 in
2035 to 6,637 MT CO₂e in 2040, with limited additional reductions by 2045. If the Air District requirements are not implemented, however, the analysis estimates that local Reach Codes could provide approximately 30,849 MT CO₂e of independent reductions by 2045.
These results demonstrate why Climate Forward uses an adaptive approach. If regional requirements proceed as anticipated, the City can focus on implementation, community readiness, permitting, incentives, technical assistance, workforce development, and ad dressing remaining gaps. If regional requirements are delayed, modified, or do not address significant building emissions sources, the City can reassess the role of local strategies such as Reach Codes, regional time -of-sale approaches, Building Performanc e Standards, neighborhood -scale
1 MT CO₂e means metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, a standard unit for expressing greenhouse gas emissions by converting different greenhouse gases to their equivalent global warming impact.
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
decarbonization, and longer-term planning for the transition away from natural gas. The City will monitor these conditions and adjust implementation priorities as appropriate.
This adaptive approach extends beyond buildings. When external policies or programs create a clear pathway for emissions reduction, the City can concentrate its resources on implementation, coordination, and addressing any remaining gaps, rather than duplicating existing efforts.
However, if external actions are delayed, limited, or fail to meet significant local needs, the City would assess whether further local action is necessary.
This approach aligns with the CSC's directive to consistently re -evaluate emissions assumptions, external conditions, and implementation priorities, rather than trying to create a fixed 20 -year implementation roadmap. It enables the City to maintain a clear direction for the next five years while being able to adjust the specific tools and the level of City involvement as conditions become more defined.
Incorporating Council Feedback
The draft actions presented at the May Study Session provided the foundation for the action portfolio in Climate Forward. Following the Study Session, staff further developed the proposed actions based on Council feedback, implementation considerations, ex isting City programs and partnerships, and additional needs identified through staff review.
The resulting plan incorporates the Council's direction while refining the scope, implementation approaches, and measures associated with individual actions. This section highlights the principal feedback received at the Study Session and describes how it is reflected in Climate Forward.
Workplace Charging
In addition to substantially increasing multifamily EV charging over the next five years, Council identified workplace charging as an opportunity for residents who cannot reliably charge at home.
Climate Forward includes a dedicated workplace and publicly accessible charging action rather than treating workplace charging solely as a secondary element of the multifamily strategy.
The action focuses on working with employers, business associations, commercial property owners, and charging providers to identify opportunities, connect potential hosts with incentives and technical resources, and encourage charging at office campuses an d shared commercial parking facilities.
This approach recognizes that workplace charging can complement residential charging and provide a practical option for employees without access to home charging.
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
Mobile Home Electrification
Council also requested stronger strategies related to mobile home electrification. Climate Forward incorporates mobile homes within its equity-focused building electrification approach, recognizing that mobile home residents can face distinct financial, ownership, electrical, and technical barriers to electrification. The plan identifies mobile home parks alongside low-income households, affordable housing, multifamily properties, and small businesses as populations that may require targeted assistance.
The plan emphasizes targeted incentives, outreach, technical assistance, and partnerships to help address barriers that may not be fully addressed through broader regional programs.
Measuring Progress and Regular Reporting
Council also requested more regular implementation updates and progress indicators. Climate Forward establishes a focused set of Climate Forward Indicators to track implementation progress, selected community trends, partnerships, advocacy, and other measures relevant to the plan. The indicators are intended to complement—not replace—the community greenhouse gas inventory.
The plan establishes Climate Forward Indicators on an annual reporting cycle , while the community greenhouse gas inventory is intended to remain a longer -term measure of communitywide emissions trends. The annual indicators are intended to help staff and decision- makers evaluate implementation, identify emerging opportunities, and refine priorities as conditions change.
This approach responds to the Council's request for more regular implementation information while avoiding the creation of a separate performance measure for every individual action.
Additional Identified Needs
In addition to the actions discussed with Council at the May 2026 Study Session, staff identified implementation needs and opportunities that emerged during the plan's development. These additions do not represent new Council direction; rather, they reflect issues that staff determined are important to address to support the plan's effective implementation and to maintain and build on existing City investments. The most significant of these additions is Reliable City-Owned Public Charging, which addresses the performance and ongoing operation of the City's existing public EV charging infrastructure.
Reliable City-Owned Public Charging
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
Mountain View already owns and operates public charging infrastructure, including 78 chargers in Downtown Mountain View and other public locations. During the development of the plan, staff identified the performance and ongoing operation of this existing infrastructure as an important implementation issue. Expanding the number of chargers does not by itself improve access if existing chargers are frequently unavailable, outdated, difficult to use, or unable to meet demand at high-use locations. Maintaining and improving the City's existing charging investment is therefore an important complement to expanding access to charging through multifamily, workplace, and other programs.
The plan focuses on improving reliability, charging speed, maintenance, customer experience, and capacity at high-demand locations rather than assuming that adding chargers is always the appropriate solution. The City can evaluate charger utilization and downtime, upgrade or replace aging equipment where warranted, strengthen maintenance and monitoring, improve customer information and support, and assess whether additional capacity or faster charging is needed at particular locations.
This reflects the City's responsibility as an owner and operator of public charging infrastructure and helps ensure that investments already made continue to provide reliable, dependable charging as the transportation system evolves.
Implementation and Funding
Each Climate Forward action includes consistent implementation information describing:
• City role
• Timing
• Estimated City cost
• Potential funding and resources
• Key partners
These considerations are intended to provide a practical framework for implementation while recognizing that actual costs, available funding, participation, and external conditions may change. Implementation will occur through the City's existing budgeting, work-planning, program management, and partnership processes.
The plan identifies potential funding and resources for each action but does not commit funding beyond amounts approved through the City's budget process.
Some actions can primarily be advanced through existing staff capacity, programs, policies, and partnerships. Other actions may require additional funding, technical assistance, consultants, infrastructure investments, incentives, or future Council decisio ns. The estimated costs in the Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
plan are intended to communicate the relative level of resources that may be required, rather than to establish a specific future appropriation.
The City will also continue to look for opportunities to combine City resources with external funding and investments. This includes building on existing experience with utility incentives, State and regional programs, grants, partnerships, and the City's Sustainability Fund.
NEXT STEPS
Following CSC feedback, staff will finalize Climate Forward and prepare the plan for consideration by the City Council.
Staff will:
1. Incorporate CSC feedback on the draft plan
2. Complete final technical, legal, and departmental review
3. Refine the action matrix, indicators, implementation information, and funding information as appropriate
4. Complete final editing and document production
5. Return to the City Council this year with the final Climate Forward Plan for consideration
The plan is intended to provide the framework for the City's five -year decarbonization work beginning in 2027.
CONCLUSION
Climate Forward translates the City's adopted 2045 carbon -neutrality goal and the direction provided through the decarbonization goal analysis and May 2026 City Council Study Session into a practical five-year implementation framework.
The plan maintains a focus on the highest -impact areas identified through the decarbonization analysis—particularly clean buildings and clean transportation—while recognizing that Mountain View cannot achieve communitywide carbon neutrality through local action alone. Reaching the City's long-term goal will also depend on broader changes in State and federal policy, regional requirements, utility infrastructure and programs, emerging technology, markets, and the availability and affordability of low - and zero -emission alternatives, as well as actions by businesses, residents, and other community partners.
The plan also incorporates the Council's subsequent emphasis on workplace charging, mobile home electrification, implementation indicators, and regular reporting. Together, these elements are intended to position Mountain View to advance feasible actions within its authority today, leverage broader changes and investments, and maintain flexibility to respond to changing conditions and opportunities over the five-year period.
Draft Five-Year Community Decarbonization Plan
September 29, 2026
Attachments:
1. Draft Climate Forward Mountain View: Building Toward a Carbon-Free Future 2027-2031
2. Climate Forward Action Matrix