Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Climate Action topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
San Ramon adopts updated Climate Action Plan, will track progress toward 2030 target
Summary
The City Council adopted an updated Climate Action Plan (CAP) and related CEQA greenhouse‑gas thresholds, accepting the consultant analysis that the plan puts the city on track for the 2030 state target but falls short of 2045 carbon neutrality and will require future updates and an implementation work plan.
The San Ramon City Council unanimously adopted an updated Climate Action Plan (CAP) and related CEQA greenhouse‑gas thresholds on Tuesday, adopting Resolution No. 2025‑073 and directing that the CAP be treated as a living document with room for periodic updates.
Ryan Driscoll, associate planner, summarized the effort: the city updated its community greenhouse gas inventory and forecast and identified measures the city and community can take across seven strategies—building energy, transportation, waste, water and wastewater, nature‑based sequestration, and implementation pillars such as funding and equity. Kelsey Bennett, environmental sustainability planning director at Rincon Consultants, and colleague Emily Saul presented the technical analysis and the proposed measures.
The CAP uses a 2019 baseline community inventory of 437,784 metric tons of CO2e and an adjusted 2030 target of 332,995 metric tons. After accounting for state and regional measures (such as Title 24 efficiency standards, the state renewable portfolio, and vehicle standards), the city still needs to cut about 99,462 metric tons CO2e to meet the 2030 target—roughly a 53% reduction from 1990 levels in the plan’s modeling. The consultants told council that implementing the CAP measures would achieve the 2030 target but would not fully achieve the state’s longer‑term 2045 carbon‑neutrality goal without future updates and additional measures.
The CAP contains more than 130 actions organized under measurable “measures” (for example, decarbonizing buildings, expanding active transportation and transit, reducing vehicle miles traveled, and nature‑based sequestration). Staff and the consultants described the implementation approach as phased, with ongoing community engagement, biannual progress reports and an online climate dashboard. Staff also recommended creation of a dedicated sustainability staff position to coordinate CAP implementation and pursue grants; the CAP and public commenters emphasized that staffing and community engagement would be central to success.
The CAP was reviewed by a City Council‑appointed Climate Action Plan Task Force (five meetings), the Planning Commission (three meetings), and was subject to a 30‑day public review period. Council received several public comments in support of the CAP; staff reported six written comments during the review period and multiple public Task Force and Planning Commission meetings that shaped edits.
Councilmembers asked for clarification about the CAP’s legal status (the CAP implements a mitigation measure tied to the 2040 General Plan EIR and also serves as a mechanism to streamline future project review under CEQA, but the CAP’s content and implementation approach can be updated as state law or local priorities change). Council also discussed measurement frequency and requested that staff continue to update inventory data (staff noted the most recent calculated inventory year is 2022 and future inventories could incorporate 2024 data). The council added language clarifying that the CAP is a living document and voted 5–0 to adopt the plan with that clarification.
What the council approved: Resolution No. 2025‑073 to repeal and replace the existing CAP with the updated CAP, and adoption of CEQA GHG thresholds and guidance dated June 10, 2025, with direction to treat the CAP as adaptable over time and to proceed with development of an implementation work plan and staffing plan.
