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County sustainability office reports progress on emissions, fleet electrification, waste diversion and community programs
Summary
The Office of Sustainability and Resilience reported implementation highlights including progress toward a carbon‑neutral county operations goal, fleet electrification orders, solar investments, waste diversion baseline data and community programs funded or piloted in 2024.
The Office of Sustainability and Resilience presented the county’s 2024 sustainability accomplishments May 29, describing progress on county operations, community programs and partnerships and outlining priorities for 2025.
Acting Director Casey Hill and Sustainability Manager Gilly Corral reported several operational achievements: county fleet vehicles that run on alternative fuels now represent 31 percent of the fleet, and Facilities and Fleet has ordered about 237 additional electric or hybrid vehicles that staff anticipate will raise the share to 38 percent. The county has invested more than $73 million in on‑site solar energy systems to date and is pursuing additional projects, including exploration of tax‑credit options under the Inflation Reduction Act. Facilities and Fleet completed a 2022 greenhouse‑gas inventory for county operations of roughly 136,000 metric tons of CO2e, a 19 percent increase compared to 2019, with employee commute shown as the largest component of operational emissions.
On waste and procurement, the county reported a 2024 baseline diversion rate of 30.3 percent for county facilities (8,779 tons diverted) under a newly implemented contract that will allow more accurate tonnage and diversion tracking. The Office highlighted a pilot at Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System to introduce a "greener by default" menu with more plant‑forward options.
Community programs included the Bay Area Regional Energy Network outreach (energy efficiency rebates served over 800 homes, 143 apartment units and 33 businesses), two public induction‑cooking demonstration events targeted to Chinese‑ and Spanish‑speaking communities, a $1 million EPA planning grant for climate pollution reduction planning, and the CRLA (Climate Resilience Leadership Academy) run by Public Health and Veggolution to train community‑based organizations; the CRLA has graduated 19 organizations to date. The county’s food‑recovery program reported facilitating nearly 15 million pounds of surplus food recovery and more than 13 million meals distributed.
Committee members praised the work and asked for follow‑up details on specific programs, including how community‑based participants were chosen for tree and air‑filter distributions tied to the CRLA and ways to improve procurement linkages between county institutions and small South County farms. The committee voted to accept the sustainability report and forward it to the Board.
