Cities account for 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and play a key role in achieving global targets, such as those in the Paris Climate Accords.

San Francisco is actively addressing the causes of human-caused climate change. This measure reports citywide emissions from electricity, natural gas, on-road transportation, fuel, and waste in metric tons. The following dashboard compares these results to the amounts emitted in 1990.

REDUCTION IN GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS SINCE 1990

Data note: Calculation methodology changed in 2018 to include more greenhouse gas categories. The total emissions (in mtCO2e) have increased with the new categories, but the percentage difference from 1990 level remains the same.

How Performance is Measured

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement which sets greenhouse gas emission targets based on 1990 levels. San Francisco established greenhouse gas emissions targets in the City’s Environment Code, Chapter 9, as follows:

• By 2017, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels
• By 2025, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels
• By 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels

The Mayor’s office has requested that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission work together with the Department of the Environment, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, as well as other community and business organizations to develop a successful and reliable renewable energy business model to meet these goals.

This metric is collected through an emissions inventory, conducted by the San Francisco Department of the Environment. The data for this metric lags by about two to three years. 

Additional Information

Visit the San Francisco Department of the Environment for detail on climate goals.

Data

Visit DataSF to access the scorecard data.