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Chico City Council approves updated climate plan

Downtown Chico, Calif.
Wikipedia
Downtown Chico, Calif.

The Chico City Council took on global warming at its meeting Tuesday, unanimously approving an update to the city’s Climate Action Plan.

City officials say the plan is intended to put the city on a path to hit two targets that align with statewide goals: reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and get to carbon neutrality by 2045.

The city is currently on track to reach about a 27 percent reduction below 1990 levels by the 2030 deadline.

That’s according to Ryan Gardener, who’s with the environmental consulting firm Rincon Consultants that’s on contract with the city.

“[It’s] a really great start, but we still have a little bit of a gap in order to meet the state targets,” Gardener said.

The plan includes actions the City Council could take to meet the targets, such as banning by 2025 the installation of natural gas in new residential and commercial construction where electrification is shown to be cost-effective.

The plan notes such state requirements may already be in place by then.

Additional reduction strategies are identified in sectors including energy, transportation, waste, sequestration and outreach.

A graduate of California State University, Chico, Andre Byik is an award-winning journalist who has reported in Northern California since 2012. He joined North State Public Radio in 2020, following roles at the Chico Enterprise-Record and Chico News & Review.