Why Climate Action Planning Pillars?
Climate action planning pillars are needed to achieve the GHG reductions laid out in climate action planning measures and actions. When all the pillars are taken together, they provide the necessary conditions needed to achieve the GHG reductions described in the measure. Though many actions associated with the measures are supportive and do not provide quantitative evidence, they are still critical in achieving the success of quantified GHG reductions by measure. Ideally, each measure should be supported by actions that reflect all pillars.
 | Structural Change describes actions that change the policy landscape of how a sector functions, and impact the underlying activity data that drives emissions in that sector (ex. adopting a 'replace on burnout' ordinance, that would replace natural gas powered appliances with all-electric alternatives when the appliance fails) | |
 | Feasibility describes actions that impact the underlying conditions of a policy, for example, data needed to assess cost effectiveness or to monitor and track progress of an action. (ex. conducting a study of a City's off-road fleet, and identifying best options for decarbonization) | |
 | Equity describes actions that reduce the burden on disinvested or marginalized communities, for example actions that reduce or eliminate the costs of decarbonization upgrades for low-income families. | |
 | Education describes the actions that increase community understanding and buy-in of the policies and behavior changes that will be necessary to catalyze decarbonization (ex. educating residents on decarbonization programs) | |
 | Decarbonization will require investment. Funding describes actions that drive investment in the decarbonization transformation to systems, infrastructure, and behaviors that will be needed to mitigate climate change. | |
 | Partnership describes actions that leverage key stakeholders like community based organizations, or sustainability service providers to ensure the feasibility of actions through collaboration (ex. establishing partnerships to track food waste data with major institutional generators of food waste, like schools or hospitals. | |
 | Countywide Collaboration: Climate change does not have jurisdictional boundaries. As such, we have the opportunity to work with San Mateo County on climate actions that require a multi-jurisdictional approach. These multi-jurisdictional goals for San Mateo County collaboratively discussed and decided upon by municipal staff representing each of the 20 cities during the Regionally Integrated Climate Action Planning Suite (RICAPS) meeting in 2022-2023. |
