Earlier this month, the San Luis Obispo City Council unanimously voted to adopt the 2025-2029 Lead by Example Work Program. Lead by Example is the City of San Luis Obispo’s climate action plan for City operations, and the 2025-29 Work Program is the City’s guidebook to reduce climate pollution from municipal operations over the next four years of efforts.
Key take aways from the program include:
-The City is making significant progress towards its 2030 carbon neutrality goal. Despite a global pandemic, inflation and multiple climate change induced disasters, the City is making strides towards achieving its ambitious 2030 goal for carbon neutral City operations. The City has brought in over $15.5 million dollars in outside grants, rebates, and incentives to reduce its carbon footprint. If fully implemented, the Council-adopted work program would achieve an 84% reduction in emissions by 2030 relative to 2022.
-There are challenging obstacles to achieving carbon neutrality. These obstacles include recently purchased fossil fuel assets with a long remaining operational life, limited market availability for certain types of electric vehicles and equipment and challenges associated with voluntary behavior change related to commute and solid waste disposal.
-Emerging technologies and funding sources are on the horizon. While the current projections push achievement of the City’s carbon neutrality goal into the mid-2030s, rapid advances in technology and new funding sources may emerge that can allow the City to fast-track implementation. To uphold the City’s commitment to its goals, City Council and staff from all departments will need to continue serving as a leaders and innovators though the end of the decade and beyond.
Council Member Mike Boswell’s comments during deliberations highlighted how City leadership can make an impact: “… I think the real power of Lead by Example is that staff, this Council as civic leaders, citizens, and our advocates in our community can tell our story beyond the City of SLO, in hopes of inspiring other communities to take action on climate change”