Santa Monica's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) lays out an ambitious set of goals designed to help the city of Santa Monica reduce its carbon emissions and become a climate-resilient city by the year 2030, with the ultimate goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. It's an ambitious, aggressive plan designed to tackle one of the biggest – if not the biggest – threats to the city in the wake of a lagging response by the federal government.
It's also expensive. Very expensive.
According to preliminary estimates, CAAP will cost approximately $800 million over the course of the next 10 to 12 years. So how, exactly, is Santa Monica planning on paying for its plan?
For starters, the city council has already allocated about $383 million for climate action and adaptation plans for the next five years. Among the approved program budgets are $120 million for municipal energy programs, which will help reach the CAAP goal of zero-net-carbon buildings. Approximately $136 million has been allocated for water self-sufficiency programs, which include upgrading the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (SMURRF) and constructing a new Advanced Water Treatment Facility (AWTF).
Additionally, the city has already funded and implemented some of the proposed components of CAAP, such as its Bike Action Plan (2011) and Pedestrian Action Plan (2016). Still, city officials acknowledge that implementing CAAP won't be easy.
"It's not a cheap thing to do," said Dean Kubani, Santa Monica's former chief sustainability officer, who has since retired.
During the May 28, 2019, city council meeting in which CAAP was formally adopted, Kubani explained, "For years, we've been doing very well. We've been leading most cities in the world in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Our entire community has been pulling together in getting there, but we've only done the easy stuff, so far. What we're talking about in this plan is really hard."
According to a city staff report, in order to fund the entirety of the plan, the city will need to mount a "concerted effort to leverage new funding from grants, rates, financing and/or tax measures."
For example, CAAP proposes the creation of a Community Climate Action Grant Program, which would be funded by a Carbon Development Impact Fee. The fee would be charged on commercial and major renovation projects, and would provide the dual benefits of encouraging low-carbon design and sustainable transportation while simultaneously providing continuous funding for carbon reduction projects.
CAAP also proposes additional carbon taxes to shift investment from fossil fuels to clean energy.
The staff report explains that some of CAAP's funding will come from "operating budgets that can sustain ongoing programs and services," as well as capital costs that are one-time investments of significant amounts for a specific program. Other funding may come from grants, utilities or the Clean Power Alliance – a locally operated electricity provider in California.
Additionally, "the city will need to provide financial incentives, technical assistance, networking and resources to residents and businesses in order to leverage private funding to decarbonize buildings, vehicles and lifestyles," according to the staff report.
Like many other proponents of CAAP, Kubani warned that although the high price tag may raise concerns, not taking action would prove even more costly. "This is really a paradigm shift," he said. "But we're also talking about a climate crisis now, and we can talk about the absolute amount of money it's going to cost to do this. It's going to be an awful lot more if we don't do this."
During the May 28 city council meeting, Garrett Wong, Santa Monica's senior sustainability analyst and the chief author of CAAP, said, "Unfortunately, a climate crisis is indeed upon us… Over the past few years, we have experienced some of California and the region's worst drought, worst wildfires and mudslides, and worst heat waves. The past four years in the world were the four hottest. So climate change will only continue to exacerbate these events and impacts locally.
"A report from the National Institute of Building Sciences finds that for every dollar spent on federal grants aimed at improving disaster resilience, societies save six dollars," Wong added. "We believe that investing in climate action and adaptation will avoid greater costs from unmitigated climate hazards."
In an interview with The Planning Report, former Santa Monica City Manager Rick Cole explained that CAAP's high price tag is a moot point.
"Like the national debate on the proposal for a Green New Deal, the salient point is that spending money to limit climate change contributes to the triple bottom line: In addition to benefiting the planet and the people who live on it, it also saves money in the long run, creates good jobs and builds a more sustainable economy," Cole said. "Most of the funding we will devote to fighting climate change over the next decade delivers cost-effective collateral benefits."
"We are not planning to spend $800 million just to stop climate change," Cole added. "That’s the magnitude of investment we will be making to ensure Santa Monica prospers by reducing waste, locking in a reliable and affordable water supply, promotes smarter mobility choices and invests in a healthy local environment."
City officials have stated that they hope Santa Monica's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan will serve as inspiration for other cities around the globe.
