• Start year:
• Type: Technical/Infrastructure investment
• Status: Completed

Solar Santa Monica has served as a community resource through its free services for residential and commercial entities looking to go solar by providing technical and financial advice for energy efficiency and rooftop solar possibilities. Over three years, 1,479 kW in solar capacity was installed, capable of producing nearly 1 million kWh each year.

• Start year: 2013
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: In operation

15x15 Climate Action Plan lists 15 measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 15% below 1990 baseline levels. The measures have been listed as actions.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: Completed

The practice of urban forestry is not only about adding trees to a community – it is about managing the health, quality and diversity of our urban trees. In addition to their aesthetic, trees absorb carbon dioxide, reduce energy use in nearby buildings and heat gain from hot surfaces, filter airborne particles, capture rain and reduce flooding, calm traffic, and even promote well-being.
Annually, Santa Monica’s urban forest provides $5.1 million in ecosystem services, including savings in energy, carbon dioxide emissions, air quality, and stormwater. According to the US Forest Service, Santa Monica’s trees currently sequester 29,809 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
The City successfully added a net total of 538 trees on public property from 2013-2015, in large part due to the completion of the Expo Line expansion and Esplanade projects. The City has set a goal to now plant 600 trees annually in order to offset the estimated 400 tree removals that occur, on average, per year.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: In operation

The City promoted transportation demand programs like CommuteSM.com, to incentivize alternative commutes. However, AVR actually decreased from 1.67 to 1.64 over three years. One of the factors influencing this decrease was the relocation of several large technology employers out of Santa Monica.
In 2015, the Transportation Demand Management Ordinance was expanded to capture businesses with 30 employees or more, which resulted in 166 additional employers now implementing trip reduction measures for 6,000 employees. The update also designated varying AVR targets of 2.2, 2.0, 1.75, and 1.60 based on proximity to transit, such as the Expo Light Rail.
Ridership on Big Blue Bus (BBB) has decreased significantly, falling well short of the City’s goal to increase annual boardings by 200,000. The trend is consistent with transit usage in the region. Santa Monica is investing heavily in multimodal mobility and “mobility as a service.” The BBB embarked in the single-largest service adjustment in its seven decades, to better integrate with the Expo Light Rail. Once the “Evolution of Blue” is fully implemented, residents and visitors will enjoy an “Uber-like” on-demand service in the evenings to help get people home from Expo stations as well as the addition of several new routes.

• Start year:
• Type: Regulatory
• Status: Completed

In 2016, the City updated the Green Building Ordinance (GBO) to mandate solar for all new construction. The update builds on the previous GBO, which required that newly constructed buildings reserve 15% of south and west rooftop space for future solar panel installation.

• Start year:
• Type: Assessment/Research
• Status: In operation

Conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory every three years. Develop and implement a data management protocol for greenhouse gas emissions indicators.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: In operation

Increase sales at city-operated farmers markets by 2% annually.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: In operation

Under the directive to achieve 100% water selfsufficiency from imported water, as well as meet State conservation targets, the City adopted its Sustainable Water Master Plan (SWMP), updated the Water Shortage Response Plan and added a Water Conservation Unit.
An educational and marketing campaign was launched to encourage conservation. Residents and businesses were provided water-use consultations for indoor and outdoor solutions. The City also began to strictly enforce existing conservation ordinances and implemented water-use allowances, which provides a water budget to each customer.
Through these efforts, Santa Monica achieved the State mandated 20% reduction in water use (compared to 2013). From 2012 to 2015, water consumption decreased by approximately 2.8 million gallons per day (MGD), or by more than 20 gallons of water per person per day, well exceeding the goals outlined in the 15x15 CAP. Accordingly, thanks to conservation, the City annually saved 8,140,320 kWh and 2401 MTCO2e embedded in water transport, treatment, and consumption. In coordination with the directive to reach water selfsufficiency, 13% of Santa Monica’s total used water shifted from imported to locally produced from 2013 to 2015.
Local groundwater remains the largest single source of water supply for the City. To further develop local sources of water this year, the City is currently in the process of piloting a new water treatment plant and designing a wastewater treatment plant, the latter of which would create additional non-potable supply from wastewater through the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP), which is largely funded by State grants. Producing water locally is less energy intensive than importing it from Northern California and the Colorado River. Thanks to the increase of more locally produced water, the City helps avoid 126 MTCO2e that would have otherwise been used on imported water.
To mitigate any increase in new water demand, the City has plans to implement a water neutrality program which will establish water budgets for new development. Exceeding that budget will require the developer to fund community water conservation projects to offset the additional water demand.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: In operation

Electric vehicle ownership in Santa Monica is on the rise. Approximately 2% of all vehicles registered in Santa Monica are electric or hybrid. The percentage of actual electric vehicles (EV) is likely much higher due to vehicles in neighboring areas or vehicles not registered to Santa Monica zip codes.
The 15x15 CAP called for a network of 200 public chargers by the end of 2015. To date, Santa Monica currently has 69 publicly available chargers located primarily in the western part of the city, with 18 more to be installed at mid-city and Main Street lots and downtown structures along Wilshire Blvd. by summer 2016.
The 15x15 CAP also set a target for the installation of 500 private EV chargers, yet only 142 have been installed to date. As most residents live in apartments and condos, which pose multiple challenges to private EV charging, the City and Southern California Edison (SCE) are now focused on increasing charger integration at public locations and multifamily properties. In 2016, Southern California Edison (SCE) launched its Charge Ready pilot program for electric vehicle charging stations. Charge Ready will install and operate the electrical infrastructure required to charge EVs at workplaces, multifamily properties and destinations. This program could help offset a significant portion of coordination and costs associated with EV charger deployment.

• Start year:
• Type: Education/Awareness Raising
• Status: Completed

In 2013, the City worked with local community members to develop the “Cookbook for a Sustainable Community,” a collection of healthy, meat-free appetizers, salads, main dishes, and desserts.
In 2014, Santa Monica was the first city to partner with the Meatless Monday campaign meant to challenge residents to completely eliminate meat from their diets at least once a week. Local restaurants have also taken the challenge to offer Meatless Monday specials on their menus.
The City also created “Sustainable Healthy Food Purchasing Guidelines” to encourage City-hosted events to adhere to its five-principle “Sustainable Food Commitments” by involving more sustainable food.
From 2014 to 2015, staff involvement in “Meatless in March” resulted in saving 6,059 lb. of carbon dioxide, 3,019,150 gallons of water, and 761 animals. The campaign was promoted online, and elicited 227 City employee pledges. With the Center for Food Safety, the City established a baseline of municipal purchases of meals with meat and dairy products. The information collected for 2014 revealed that 18% of meals purchased with public funds were meatless, well beyond the 2015 goal of 15% set in the Sustainable City Plan. Staff now aim to reduce meat purchases by another 15% by 2020.
In 2014, the Office of Sustainability and the Environment held its first “Meat-less in March” challenge, a call to all City employees to reduce meat and dairy from their meals for an entire month.

• Start year: 2011
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: In operation

The Bike Action Plan is a statement of community priorities that will guide and coordinate implementation of bicycle programs and the LUCE bicycle network, and encourage residents, employees, and visitors to make bicycling their transportation of choice. It outlines where the community wants to go and how to get there, laying out a bold 20-year
vision and a 5-year implementation strategy. The document also reviews the policy context and goals, assesses current conditions, identifies resources for project development and implementation, and includes a monitoring program to ensure accountability and flexibility. The Plan outlines programs and a network of bikeways that form the City’s implementation
priorities for the near and long-term. The Plan supports efforts to collaborate with community partners including businesses, employers and schools. Finally, the Plan is expected to meet State Bicycle Transportation Account requirements, making the City eligible to apply for state funding pursuant to that legislation.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: In operation

In 2014, Santa Monica adopted an aggressive Zero Waste Strategic Plan with a goal of diverting 95% of materials from the landfill by 2030 and reducing per capita disposal to almost 1 pound per day. By early 2013, the City was already achieving a 77% waste-from-landfill diversion rate, higher than the State’s mandatory 65% diversion rate.
To demonstrate leadership, a zero waste program was implemented at City Hall and the library branches. Individual desk-side trash containers were replaced with recycling and composting containers and centralized zero-waste sorting stations.To meet State requirements by 2016, the City worked with businesses and large multi-family residential buildings to provide organic recycling programs.
City staff partnered with Santa Monica College to cocreate an immersive academic curriculum on food waste and waste management. Students engaged with businesses to perform waste audits and encourage proactive source reduction, with final recommendations given on how each business can reduce their environmental impacts.

• Start year:
• Type: Technical/Infrastructure investment
• Status: Completed

Santa Monica also established a 30% emissions reduction goal for municipal operations by 2015. Emissions from municipal operations are a small portion of the overall community emissions. Overall emissions have decreased 44% compared to 1990 after a sharp increase in 2007.
The City continues to procure Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) for 100% of its eligible electricity accounts. Staff track municipal emissions in two scenarios: one accounting for RECs and one not accounting. This allows for staff to better understand both the value of energy efficiency and onsite renewable energy and purchasing RECs. When accounting for RECs, the City achieved a 42% reduction below 1990 levels for municipal greenhouse gas emissions.
Approximately 30-35% of Santa Monica’s water is imported from Northern California and the Colorado River. In 2011, the City set a goal to become water selfsufficient by 2020 and has since increased production of water from local groundwater wells.
Pumping and treating water uses a lot of energy and, as the City has increased production, energy use has risen as well. Currently, pumping and treating water accounts for almost 38% of the City’s electricity consumption.
Increasing energy efficiency in operations and siting renewable energy generation for the City’s water system will be increasingly important as Santa Monica reaches water self-sufficiency.
The City routinely identifies and implements energy efficiency projects to lower utility bills and maintenance hours.
Energy efficiency projects under the 15x15 CAP have reduced annual energy use by 1,398,896 kWh in electricity and 36,641 therms of natural gas.
The City’s newest facilities were designed and built to the highest sustainability standards. Parking Structure 6 and Pico Branch Library both achieved LEED Platinum and feature solar energy systems.
The City’s newest endeavor, the City Services Building, seeks to achieve the most advanced level of sustainability by generating its own energy needs and water needs onsite as a “Living Building”.
One of the biggest sources of emissions in City operations is Big Blue Bus (BBB). While Big Blue Bus has helped keep hundreds of thousands of vehicles off the road, increasing services has also meant increasing emissions, until recently. In 2015, Big Blue Bus announced that it is now fueling its fleet with renewable natural gas - becoming one of first municipal transit authorities in the country to do so - sourced from non-fracked methane gas captured from the decompostion of landfill waste. This bold achievement reduced the BBB fleet’s carbon footprint by more than 60%.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: Completed

In 2015, Santa Monica became the first city in Southern California to launch a bike-sharing program. The Breeze Bike Share debuted 500 eight-speed bicycles at 75 stations throughout Santa Monica and Venice. Riders use a mobile app to reserve and unlock the bicycles for short trips. After 100 days of operation, 8,529 users logged a collective 86,180 miles traveled and 81,371 lbs. of carbon dioxide emissions avoided.
Bicyclists are also now enjoying 107 miles of new bike lanes, “sharrow” lanes, and other routes that have been added since the 2011 adoption of the Bike Action Plan (BAP): 90 miles of new bike lanes and 17 miles of shared-lane markings. While exceeding the 15x15 CAP’s goal of a 69mile addition to the City’s bike path network, the BAP remains 57% complete*. The City is working toward 100% completion of the plan by 2020, which includes further expansion of bike paths, upgrades of existing roads, striping bikeways with high visibility treatments, addressing bike crashes, and other services. To improve the safety and experience of walking, the City developed a Pedestrian Action Plan (PAP) to provide a comprehensive document to guide policy for improved pedestrian safety and useable infrastructure. It includes the City’s first statement regarding “Vision Zero:” a plan to eliminate roadway injuries and fatalities.
The PAP calls for short-term projects like diagonal crossing or ‘scramble’ intersections in the downtown area, new curb ramps, signal timing changes, and pavement markings, and longer-term initiatives, such as greenways, lighting, and reconfigured intersections that will prioritize pedestrian access. Increasing walking will continue to reduce vehicle emissions and congestion, while improving personal wellbeing and health.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: Completed

Require buildings over 25,000 square feet to participate in energy benchmarking
and disclosure program. Currently, commercial energy benchmarking and utility data disclosure programs are being piloted across the U.S. Staff is aiming to incorporate concepts from a pending program in the City of Los Angeles to ensure regional consistency when Santa Monica’s program is implemented.
Launched a residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) offers a new financing product for property owners to implement renewable energy projects, efficiency measures, and seismic retrofit projects. All eligible projects can be installed with no money down. The savings from the efficiency measures can then be used to make the payments, which are assessed on the bi-annual property tax bill.

• Start year:
• Type: Policy/Strategies/Action Plans
• Status: Completed

Transit-oriented development (TOD) places dense nodes of residential and commercial development near mass-transit options allowing people to live within walking distance from where they work and relax.
Since 2013, the City has prioritized new TOD construction near the three Expo Light Rail stations, open spaces, and grocery stores. This new construction encompasses 826 housing units from 21 new projects. All new developments are located no more than a half-mile from open space. enhancing neighborhoods with Green streets
Green Streets is a concept that incorporates a variety of features to enhance the natural ecosystem and the pedestrian experience. This is achieved through sidewalk widening, sustainable landscaping, incorporation of recycled materials, traffic calming features, and stormwater mechanisms like bioswales and infiltration pits. Such project prioritize pedestrian and biker access, enhance aesthetics, improve air quality, and reduce energy and water maintenance inputs.
Although a standalone ‘Complete Green Streets Policy’ was not adopted by the City, various plans did incorporate green streets as an important component. The Bergamot Area Plan, Downtown Community Plan, Lincoln Neighborhood Corridor Plan, Memorial Park Neighborhood Plan and Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway Plan all include green streets components.

• Start year:
• Type: Assessment/Research
• Status: Completed

The impacts of climate change, like increased heat and worsened air quality, place a greater burden on populations that are socially and economically vulnerable. Under the Pedestrian Action Plan, the City created a Community Health and Sustainability (CHS) Index to identify areas of Santa Monica where there exists greater disparities in social equity. The CHS Index considers social and economic factors, vulnerable populations, mortality, morbidity, the physical environment, pollution, and crime.
Specifically, vulnerable populations include the economically disadvantaged, elderly, homeless, and those with chronic illness. The areas shown in dark brown are locations where strategic investments in pedestrian and other facilities would have the greatest health and sustainability benefits in neighborhoods where it will make the most difference to people.