San Francisco Declares a Climate Emergency

Press conference when resolution was introduced. SFT banner is at left.

At its April 2nd meeting, San Francisco Supervisors unanimously passed Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s Climate Emergency Resolution: the first step in a chain of collaborations intended to speed up and strengthen the City’s and the region’s just transition to a fossil-free, safe and healthy future for all.

The resolution is the result of the efforts of a coalition of local activists representing multiple organizations and spearheaded by San Francisco Tomorrow. We worked with allies from Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates, Mothers Out Front, 350 Bay Area, 350 SF, Citizens’ Climate Lobby SF, Sierra Club SF Group, SF Labor Council, SEIU 1020, and others. Ten city departments also had a hand in it, mainly of course the San Francisco Department of the Environment. Click here for the full text of the resolution.

If this is the first step, what’s next? Overseeing implementation of the recommended actions, that’s what. The resolution calls for a data-driven technical report from the Department of the Environment, to be released in 100 days. It also calls for a public hearing, possibly before the report comes out, to explain and preview it. After the release of the report, we are advocating for a series of workshops, utilizing the Charette Procedure, to ensure that all interested parties can participate in prioritizing climate action by the City.