SF Codifies Net-Zero-by-2040 Climate Targets as Budget Cuts Threaten Implementation

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Land Use and Transportation Committee locked legally binding climate targets into city law on April 6 — then spent more than an hour hearing from a dozen advocacy groups warning that the mayor's proposed 80% general fund cut to the Environment Department could make those targets meaningless. The committee also advanced 14 historic landmark designations protecting LGBTQ, Indigenous and architectural heritage sites in District 8, and named a Tenderloin block for a police officer severely injured in the line of duty.

• Climate plan codified into law, but 12 speakers warn proposed budget cuts would gut the department tasked with delivering it

• 14 culturally significant District 8 properties win landmark protection — including what would be the city's first American Indian-associated landmark

• Tenderloin block named "Officer Lewin-Tankel Way" to honor SFPD officer who suffered traumatic brain injury on bicycle patrol

The committee unanimously approved amendments to Environment Code Chapter 9, codifying San Francisco's targets of a 61% sector-based emissions reduction by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2040. But the vote was overshadowed by an urgent question: who will do the work?