Menlo Park becomes first U.S. city to set goal to be carbon neutral by 2030
Menlo Park became the first city in the U.S. to set a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030 on Tuesday when the City Council moved forward with a new plan to slash carbon emissions citywide.
Menlo Park is the first U.S. city to set this goal, according to Menlo Park environmental nonprofit Menlo Spark. The city aims to achieve it by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90% from 2005 levels and focusing on carbon removal efforts for the remaining 10%.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout associated with it struck, the city's Environmental Quality Commission, which has been developing recommendations for the plan, has narrowed the scope of the project from 77 strategies to six, for now.
The updated climate action plan would replace the city's current goal, which is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 27% below 2005 levels by 2020. The most current data, from 2017, indicates the city has reduced emissions by about 18.6%.
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Menlo Park is the first U.S. city to set this goal, according to Menlo Park environmental nonprofit Menlo Spark. The city aims to achieve it by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90% from 2005 levels and focusing on carbon removal efforts for the remaining 10%.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout associated with it struck, the city's Environmental Quality Commission, which has been developing recommendations for the plan, has narrowed the scope of the project from 77 strategies to six, for now.
The updated climate action plan would replace the city's current goal, which is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 27% below 2005 levels by 2020. The most current data, from 2017, indicates the city has reduced emissions by about 18.6%.
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