Sustainability Programs

Home  > 

A climate action plan (CAP) is a comprehensive plan for being more resource efficient, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate.  Through the CAP, Sacramento County will:

• address GHG reductions consistent with state law
• review its operations and implement cost-saving measures
• position the County to successfully compete for future grant opportunities
• increase the demand for green collar jobs and growing the green economy.

The County's CAP is being developed in two phases.  The first phase, the CAP Strategy and Framework Document, was adopted by the Board of Supervisors on November 9, 2011 along with the County's new 2030 General Plan.  This document provides an overall approach to addressing climate change and a framework for reducing GHGs, saving money and managing resources. It summarizes actions that the County has already taken or could take in the future to be more resource efficient, save energy and money, create jobs and reduce emissions.

The second phase will be the implementation plan. It will quantify benefits resulting from past County actions, identify and prioritize additional actions the County and the unincorporated community can take to be more resource efficient and reduce GHGs, and provide a timeline for implementation. The implementation plan will likely be divided into two parts:

• Government Operations: actions to address County government operations (e.g. County buildings, vehicle fleet, information technology, streetlights and signals, airports, waste management and recycling, and other facilities and operations that are within the County's direct control)
• Community Actions: actions to address the unincorporated community (e.g. automobiles and trucks, energy used in residences and businesses, etc.)

A workshop to initiate the Government Operations plan was held with the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers (700 H Street in downtown Sacramento).  The staff report and video of the workshop can be found here: http://www.agendanet.saccounty.net/sirepub/meetresults.aspx

The draft Government Operations plan will be presented to the Board in early 2012.  The effort to create a Community Actions plan will likely be initiated after the Government Operations plan is complete.

If you would like to receive notices of upcoming workshops and periodic updates on the CAP process, please register to receive e-mail updates.