Climate & Environmental Action Plan, Adopted May 7, 2024
What is a Climate & Environmental Action Plan (CEAP)?
The City’s CEAP or “Plan” details the strategies and actions that the City will pursue to protect the environment and address the challenges of climate change. Actions are aimed at reducing the community’s collective greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions responsible for climate change, sustaining a healthy environment, and providing co-benefits like reducing air pollution, supporting local economic development, increasing local resilience, and improving public health.
We can think of a Climate and Environmental Action Plan as "Putting Sustainability into Practice". It needs to address all 3 components of sustainability – equity, the environment, and the economy.
Community engagement has been at the center of the planning process. The Plan incorporates ideas, views and feedback from a broad cross-section of the community, leverages existing City plans and programs, considers challenges and opportunities, and lays out a comprehensive approach to address climate change and promote sustainable practices across the City.
Why Develop a CEAP?
Creating a climate action plan is important for several reasons. The CEAP will help the City meet its legal and moral responsibilities to address climate change and support California’s goals and mandates. Climate change is already having a significant impact on our planet, including rising temperatures, drought, floods, sea level rise, and more frequent extreme weather events. Without action, these impacts are likely to become much worse in the future. A climate action plan helps to reduce the City's GHG emissions, which are the primary cause of climate change, and prepare us for the impacts that are already happening or expected in the future. Additionally, implementing a climate action plan brings multiple benefits such as improving public health, reducing air pollution, creating jobs, improving resilience and creating a sustainable City.
The City of Thousand Oaks has long been committed to environmental leadership. In 2014, the development of a climate action plan was selected by the community as one of its top priorities in the “Visioning 2064” process, and at the conclusion of that process, City Council formally approved the development of a Climate Action Plan as one of the City’s Top Guiding Principles and adopted the development of this Plan within its annual Top Ten Priorities since 2022.
The CEAP uses the same set of baseline conditions and growth assumptions as the City’s General Plan 2045, which was adopted by City Council in December 2023, and has been developed to support the goals and policies therein.
For a short presentation on the City's CEAP, click the short video below .
Solar array at the Municipal Service Center
California’s Vision
The State has implemented a number of policies and programs to reduce GHG emissions, increase the supply and use of renewable energy, and prepare for the impacts of climate change. These have been, and continue to be, instrumental in reducing the City’s own municipal and community GHG emissions.
These include:
SB 100 (2018): Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) - Mandates that our electricity supply be completely carbon-free by 2045 with an intermediate target of 60 percent by 2030.
Advanced Clean Cars Program - Sets low emission standards and requires that 100% of new cars and light duty trucks sold in California will be Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035
SB 1383 (2016): Diverts organic material from landfill
Title 24 Building Code for Energy (Part 6) and Green Building (Part 11): Establishes energy efficiency and sustainability standards for new buildings and major alternations/additions to existing buildings including requirements for onsite solar and electric vehicle readiness
The 2022 Scoping Plan , developed by California Air Resources Board, or CARB, lays out the strategies for achieving California’s emissions targets.
California’s Climate Policy
California is a leader in addressing climate change, not only in the United States but also internationally.
In 2006, AB 32 set California’s first greenhouse gas target to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. This called for a reduction of approximately 15 percent below those expected under a “business as usual” scenario. The State met its goal four years ahead of schedule. In 2016, SB 32 was signed into law, establishing a new mid-term GHG reduction target of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and in 2022, AB 1279 was passed, which set a new long-term target requiring emissions to be reduced to at least 85% below the 1990 levels by 2045.
2006 (AB 32): California’s first GHG target
2016 (SB 32): 2030 goal of reducing emissions 40% from 1990 levels
2022 (AB 1279): 2045 goal of carbon neutrality and reducing emissions 85% from 1990 levels
Our Plan
Community engagement has been at the center of the planning process.
It is important that a CEAP reflects the values of the community. As part of the development of this Plan, the City conducted public outreach and engagement to allow residents, stakeholders, and other interested parties and individuals to participate in the planning process.
The emission targets established in the Plan align with those of the State of California but shift the baseline year from 1990 to 2010. 2010 is the furthest back in time that the City has access to complete and accurate community data.
OUR emission targets:
42% reduction in GHG emissions relative to 2010 by 2030
85% reduction in GHG emissions relative to 2010 by 2045
