City staff presented the City of Sunnyvale’s 2024 greenhouse gas inventory and an update on implementation of Game Plan 2028 at a joint meeting of the Sustainability Commission and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission on Oct. 23, 2025. Madeline Kerr, environmental programs manager, said the inventory shows an uptick in community-wide emissions that staff believe reflects accounting and data-source changes rather than a sudden surge in local emissions.

Why it matters: The inventory is the chief measure the city uses to track progress toward a 56% reduction below 1990 greenhouse gas levels by 2030. A single-year increase in the published inventory—if not clearly explained—can affect public perception, grant applications and policy choices, staff told commissioners.

Kerr said two primary drivers explain the 2024 increase. First, Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) relied on unspecified grid power for a portion of its supply in 2024 because drought-reduced hydro output and a tight renewable market limited available carbon-free energy. That decision increased the electricity-emissions factor for the city for the year. Kerr said SVCE’s board chose not to purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset those emissions because buying RECs for that year would have cost “millions of dollars,” and SVCE preferred to invest in long-term, directly procured clean energy projects. Kerr characterized the 2024 electricity increase as a “one-time blip” she does not expect to recur once SVCE’s contracted resources come online.

Second, Kerr said a state modeling update that informs vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) and fuel-use estimates lowered the assumed average fuel efficiency used in the county-level model. That change, combined with updated county fuel-use data, produced a substantive rise in transportation emissions in the 2024 inventory. Kerr said the model update showed lower fuel efficiency because it captured more activity from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles; staff are seeking clarification from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) about the change.

Staff emphasized that the inventory’s year-to-year spikes do not reflect the full scope of local implementation. Kerr listed recent local accomplishments: roughly 300 HVAC upgrades supported in 2024, 170 heat-pump water heaters installed, 121 new EV chargers reported in local datasets, 22 public chargers added at city facilities, and municipal fleet growth from 22 to 56 electric vehicles after recent procurements. Kerr also noted nearly 700,000 pounds of edible food were recovered in Sunnyvale through a countywide effort in 2024; Ramana Chiricotla, environmental services director, added that the city diverts more than 12,000 tons of food scraps from landfill annually and that greenhouse-gas reductions from that diversion can be calculated.

Kerr and staff described program and funding updates: Sunnyvale was part of a regional award of $2,600,000 for shoreline-adaptation planning, the city received a $100,000 electrification engagement grant to hire a liaison for commercial and multifamily properties, energy-efficiency grant reimbursements helped fund 14 of the newest fleet vehicles, and five positions authorized with adoption of Game Plan 2028 in June 2024 have been filled.

Policy and measurement changes recommended or under way: staff told commissioners they plan to ask council to accept the 2024 inventory update and will brief council Oct. 28. They proposed moving the formal greenhouse gas inventory production to a two-year cadence (2026, 2028, etc.) to free staff time for implementation tasks, while maintaining annual progress reports on playbook metrics and move statuses. Staff also recommended developing “supportive metrics” to track transportation changes other than the county VMT model—examples discussed included vehicle and bicycle counts, shuttle ridership and other local activity measures—and to pursue clarification from CARB on the model and fuel-use inputs.

Questions from commissioners focused on data sources, measurement choices and program details. Commissioners asked whether the 300 HVAC upgrades and other clean-energy measures are a meaningful fraction of Sunnyvale housing; Kerr said those counts reflect rebates claimed through SVCE programs and that staff do not have real-time permit totals for all housing units at the meeting. Commissioners asked about municipal-fleet electrification, charging needs for public-safety vehicles, timelines for employer-focused transportation-demand-management moves, and the feasibility and timing of a permanent bike- and scooter-share program after a vendor exit.

Public comment: Charlene Liu, a member of the public, urged the city to add alternative, automated sources to measure active transportation—she suggested using bicycle-counts or Strava-derived relative measures—so the city can track whether local programs increase cycling even if VMT models remain ambiguous.

Next steps and uncertainties: staff will present the full update to Sunnyvale City Council Oct. 28. They will pursue clarifications from CARB about the model changes driving higher transportation emissions, continue working with SVCE on energy procurements, develop and pilot supporting transportation metrics, and complete a municipal greenhouse-gas inventory in the coming fiscal year. Staff described the inventory anomalies as driven by external accounting and supplier factors that carry medium implementation risk for local planning; they did not propose new regulatory actions at the meeting.

Attribution: Madeline Kerr is quoted from her presentation as the presenting staff member; Ramana Chiricotla provided the edible-food diversion figure during Q&A; Charlene Liu spoke during public comment.