Title
Adoption of Resolution to Endorse Declaration of a Climate Emergency and Request Regional Collaboration on an Immediate Just Transition and Emergency Mobilization Effort to Restore a Safe Climate. (Public Works 001)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: David L. Rudat, Interim City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
By adopting a climate emergency declaration, the City of Alameda (City) would join many neighbors-globally, nationally, regionally, and locally-in underlining the need for immediate and sustained mobilization to limit global climate change and address its impacts.
BACKGROUND
The City has been working to address global climate change for more than a decade. In 2008, Alameda adopted the Local Action Plan for Climate Protection, which included a goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25% below 2005 levels by the year 2020. In December of 2017, City Council approved a process to update the 2008 plan. Since the spring of 2018, a group of City staff representing various departments, community groups, and many Alamedans have embarked on development of a Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (Plan). This Plan will set GHG emissions reduction goals for 2030 and 2050, will recommend strategies for reaching those goals, and builds on a robust collaboration between the City, Community Action for Sustainable Alameda (CASA), many Alameda organizations, and hundreds of individual Alamedans.
In October 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5?C above pre-industrial levels. The report states that global warming is likely to reach 1.5?C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate. While previous estimates focused on estimating the damage if average temperatures were to rise by 2?C, this report shows that many of the adverse impacts of climate change will come at the 1.5?C mark. The IPCC's Fifth Assessment R...
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