City staff report progress but warn the Climate Action Plan will need stronger policies to reach 2035 goal

City of Santa Barbara staff presented a two‑year implementation update on the Climate Action Plan May 7 and described a range of program results alongside warnings that more aggressive policy changes will be necessary to reach the city's goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.

"Our climate goal is bold. It is carbon neutrality by 2035," Jefferson Linn, energy and climate division manager, told the committee. Linn and colleagues summarized early outcomes across buildings, transportation, waste and carbon sequestration, while noting that the city has completed the "easy" measures and will need progressive policy choices going forward.

Key accomplishments staff highlighted included contracting for a facilities condition assessment covering about 82 municipal structures to support building electrification planning; adding roughly 503 kilowatts of new municipal solar and 4,500 kilowatt‑hours of battery storage; and launching municipal projects such as the Granada Garage microgrid and a waterfront facility with on‑site generation. Linn said the city's new municipal projects represented an estimated 285 metric tons of annual emissions savings compared with the standard grid mix.

On building electrification, John Bieser, program manager for Santa Barbara Clean Energy, summarized the Home Electrification Accelerator Program (HEAP), which launched in January 2025 and has funded more than 100 heat‑pump water‑heater and heat‑pump HVAC projects to date. "Approximately one‑third of our total funding and 25% of those projects have been for income‑qualified customers," Bieser said, noting the program offers Spanish‑language services and fast permitting for eligible electrification measures.

Transportation and EV charging were prominent. Linn said the CAP calls for about 1,788 publicly accessible chargers by 2030 (3,500 by 2035); staff reported securing more than $10 million in grants and having 375 chargers in development, including four DC fast chargers at the Eastside Library. The city also launched SmartRide, a transportation demand management platform, and expanded local bike‑lane and bike‑share infrastructure.

Staff noted a troubling short‑term trend: vehicle miles traveled data (derived from aggregated mobile‑location data) showed an overall increase of roughly 40% compared with the period since CAP adoption. Linn cautioned the committee that the short sample window and method warrant caveats but said the trend underlines the need for policy tools beyond incentives.

Next steps and policy choices: staff previewed a future reach code and building performance standards proposal (targeted for council consideration mid‑cycle in June 2027), and signaled further items that will return to council, including demand response and residential solar plus storage offers. Linn said measures such as parking pricing and housing increases are integral to reducing vehicle miles traveled and achieving CAP goals.

Public comment praised staff efforts and urged acceleration. Michael Chiapas, a senior policy consultant with the Community Environmental Council, commended the progress and urged the city to leverage clean electricity into vehicles and buildings and to expand multifamily charging programs. Chiapas also asked whether the city had considered targeted revenue options (for example, a carbon fee on cruise ship calls or airport users) to support climate programs.

Staff closed by saying many items will return for detailed approvals and that the committee should expect additional implementation updates.