Committee forwards Community Climate Roadmap 2035 to board, asks staff to revise farmworker housing outreach

The Santa Clara County Housing, Land Use, Environment and Transportation Committee on Jan. 16 voted to receive the Office of Sustainability and Resilience's Community Climate Roadmap 2035 and forward it to the full Board of Supervisors, and directed staff to revise the roadmap's agricultural worker housing segment following further outreach.

The roadmap, presented by Jasneet Sharma, director of the Office of Sustainability and Resilience, and sustainability manager Gilly Corral, lays out countywide targets that aim for carbon neutrality by 2035 with a midpoint target of a 40% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030. The presentation summarized a greenhouse gas inventory using 2017 as the baseline, noted that unincorporated areas account for roughly 44% of countywide emissions, and identified on-road transportation, energy (electricity and natural gas) and agriculture among key sectors to address.

Sharma framed the urgency around global temperature rise and local impacts: "we had about 37 heat related deaths just in Santa Clara County," she said, and stressed that even a tenth of a degree increase in global temperature has large effects. Corral described recent inventory changes, including a 52% decrease in natural gas emissions for the unincorporated inventory attributable in part to the permanent closure of the Lehigh Cement quarry in 2020, and noted Stanford University comprised about 12% of unincorporated emissions in the 2017 inventory.

Why this matters: committee members and staff said the roadmap will shape county efforts on building electrification, waste reduction and carbon sequestration, and will guide partnerships with cities and regional entities such as Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE), Valley Water and the Santa Clara County Climate Collaborative. The roadmap includes near-term actions already funded or underway and identifies carbon sequestration on rural and working lands, expanded waste diversion under state law and electrification pilots among the priority strategies.

Key elements and funding mentioned in the presentation included a $700,000 California Energy Commission grant for neighborhood electrification pilots; local administration of Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) programs; and measures to support implementation of Senate Bill 1383 on organics reduction. The presenters said energy and waste measures would account for most of the 2030 reductions and that the roadmap is technically feasible with existing technologies but remains aspirational.

Public comment: Paul Sotto, a virtual speaker, focused on equity and named Stanford University as a large private landowner and significant emissions contributor. He said, "They pay no property tax. Nothing," and criticized perceived hypocrisy in how market-rate and lower-income housing are treated in discussions of vehicle use and electrification.

Committee discussion focused heavily on engagement with the agricultural community. Supervisor Rein'a (Supervisor Reyna) said the July 2023 focus group with agricultural stakeholders was held online and that the county did not sufficiently reach farmworkers directly. "We did not take it down to the level of really engaging with the farm workers at that point," staff replied, adding the county expects deeper engagement through a planned pilot to electrify farmworker housing. Deputy County Executive Sylvia Gallegos offered to coordinate additional outreach with the Ag Commissioner, the Consumer Environmental Protection Agency and nonprofits working with farmworkers.

Formal action: Supervisor Reyna moved to approve the report and to revise the agricultural worker housing section based on a future offline conversation; the motion was seconded and carried. The roll-call voting recorded for the motion in committee minutes shows Vice Chair Arenas voting yes and Chair Margaret Abi Koga voting aye; the clerk stated the motion carries.

What happens next: Committee members asked staff for more detailed implementation steps and cost estimates, including prioritized short-, medium- and long-term measures in the staff memo. Staff said the roadmap and the requested revisions will be forwarded to the full Board for consideration and that they will continue coordinating with regional partners and community organizations. The roadmap presentation and staff memo identify immediate actions that are either funded or underway; staff highlighted the electrification pilot for farmworker housing as an entry point for deeper outreach to agricultural labor communities.

Evidence spans from the meeting transcript supporting this summary are appended below.