Garcetti says LA has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 36% since 1990

The city of Los Angeles has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 36% from its 1990 baseline, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday while announcing an update of his “Green New Deal.”

The program was launched in 2019, setting ambitious new environmental goals in a range of areas including electric vehicles, air quality, trees and public transportation.

“When we laid out LA’s Green New Deal, we presented a vision for the sustainable and equitable future our children deserve — and three years later, we can proudly report on our incredible progress,” Garcetti said. “Los Angeles is a globally recognized climate leader because of so much more than what happens at City Hall — it’s the growing coalition of community, business and environmental justice leaders who have made it their mission to make this decade one of climate action.”

On Tuesday, the mayor announced that the city exceeded some of its goals by:

• installing 577 megawatts of local solar power, 77 MW more than its goal;
• achieving 82,000 acre-feet per year of stormwater capture capacity, 10% more than the city’s target;
• installing 18,205 commercial electric vehicle chargers, which the mayor’s office said is the most of any U.S. city and 8,205 more than its goal;
• installing 36,000 cool roofs a year ahead of its goal of getting to 13,000 cool roofs;
• investing $150 million in energy efficiency programs for renters and affordable housing customers, $50 million more than was planned;
• investing $247 million in customer water conservation efforts, with 38% for low-income customers;
• banning single-use plastic water bottles at LAX, the Van Nuys Airport and the L.A. Convention Center;
• expanding Metro Bike Share to a total of 27 neighborhoods, seven more than the 2021 goal; and
• creating a plan to phase out oil drilling in the city.

The mayor also said the city’s energy grid now runs on 62% zero-emission sources. The city aims to have a 100% renewable energy grid by 2035.

“Mayor Garcetti’s Green New Deal rightly highlighted the role of greening our building stock in our city’s efforts around addressing climate change” said Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who Garcetti appointed to the South Coast Air Quality Management District Board. “I’m so happy that the legislation that the City Council passed last week will get us to our goal for new buildings seven years ahead of schedule.”

Garcetti’s Green New Deal also included commitments of:

• sourcing 70% of L.A.’s water locally by 2035;
• recycling 100% of all wastewater for beneficial reuse by 2035;
• making all new buildings net-zero carbon by 2030, and 100% of buildings net-zero carbon by 2050;
• increasing the percentage of all trips made by walking, biking, micro-mobility/matched rides or transit to at least 35% by 2025, 50% by 2035, and maintaining the minimum 50% rate by 2050;
• increasing the percentage of zero-emission vehicles in the city to 25% by 2025, 80% by 2035, and 100% by 2050;
• reducing industrial emissions by 38% by 2035, and 82% by 2050;
• phasing out Styrofoam by 2021, ending the use of plastic straws and single-use takeout containers by 2028, and no longer sending any trash to landfills by 2050;
• planting at least 90,000 trees by 2021;
• creating 300,000 green jobs by 2035, and 400,000 green jobs by 2050; and
• reducing municipal greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2025, 65% by 2035; and reaching carbon-neutral by 2045.

The plan can be viewed at http://plan.lamayor.org.

Garcetti’s office said the goals are collectively expected to save 1,650 lives, 660 trips to the hospital, and $16 billion in avoided health care expenses each year by 2050.

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