A cleaner Palo Alto

Updating the action plan to reduce greenhouse gas by 80 percent

The City of Palo Alto adopted its Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (S/CAP) Framework in 2016, which included the ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 – not an easy feat given its significant commuter traffic and limitations in regulating all aspects of the city’s emissions.

In 2020, the city set about identifying the highest impact actions that would help meet this goal. Looking at the categories of building energy, mobility, electric vehicles, water, climate adaptation and sea level rise, natural environment, and zero waste, the city government decided to put the options out for community consultation.

Modeling targets and outcomes, collaboratively

To inform the decisions, we were selected to perform an impact analysis on the proposed key actions. This included working with city staff to develop custom analytical tools to estimate action implementation costs, expected GHG emissions reductions, and other community and sustainability co-benefits. We also developed a 2019 community GHG inventory and forecasts through 2040 to support action impact analysis and progress reporting.

Our team developed a building energy sector GHG action calculator in collaboration with staff from the Palo Alto Utility Department to evaluate specific technology and policy changes that can guide the City toward a zero-emissions building sector in the future. This analysis included collecting city- and region-specific building energy data and sustainable building cost information to calculate the net new cost (or savings) associated with policy implementation.

Revisiting the plan, renewing the focus

When completed, our analysis will clearly explain the challenges related to the city’s ambitious GHG reduction target, and the opportunities and co-benefits this leadership action can provide for the Palo Alto community.