Berkeley City Council is considering adding carbon fees to demolition projects. While this may seem like a sustainability move, it's actually housing obstruction masquerading as carbon reduction.

Our friends at Berkeley Neighbors for Climate and Housing Action put together an excellent public letter opposing the proposal, with a thorough analysis of its impact. What they found was that it added red tape and made construction projects more expensive, while barely making a dent in carbon saved. In fact, improving upon existing programs would be far more impactful, without the side effect of making it more expensive to build homes -- in one of the most sustainable cities in the country. Proponents of the proposal did not, of course, measure the carbon impact of enabling more people to live more sustainable lives in Berkeley.

City Council needs to hear from us, that we see through the greenwashing of this plan.

Note that the proposal was originally scheduled for the November 28th City Council meeting as item #16, but it got delayed to the following week. The agenda for December 5th's meeting has not yet been updated at this time, but we know it's going to be added. Public comments at the meeting will also be helpful, but at this time, Berkeley City Council meetings have been disrupted by protesters, so writing a letter is a more reliable way to make your opinion known.