Oakland City Council Adopts Energy and Climate Action Plan

On March 1st, Oakland's City Council adopted a resolution that accepts the city's first Energy and Climate Action Plan (ECAP)--with some of the strongest greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals of any city in the country--and directs the staff to proceed with appropriate California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review.

The February 22, 2011 Draft ECAP is available for review here.

The purpose of the ECAP is to identify and prioritize actions the City can take to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions associated with Oakland. The ECAP recommends GHG reduction actions and establishes a framework for coordinating implementation, as well as monitoring and reporting on progress.

In July 2009, the Oakland City Council approved a preliminary GHG reduction target for the year 2020 of 36% below 2005 levels. The primary sources of Oakland’s GHG emissions are:

• Transportation and Land Use
• Building Energy Use
• Material Consumption and Waste

The ECAP outlines a ten year plan including more than 150 actions that will enable Oakland to achieve its target reduction and recommends a Three Year Priority Implementation Plan.

Read more here.  A video of the Council meeting is available here (skip to about 2:43:00 in the video for the ECAP agenda item).