The El Cerrito Climate Emergency Resolution of August 20, 2019, supported an “increase in our Citywide GHG emissions reduction rate” and a commitment to “strive for zero GHG emission Citywide as quickly as possible”. The intent included updating the 2013 Climate Action Plan (CAP) in 2020.  The city’s CAP has yet to be updated. A City Council Climate Subcommittee was also formed to recommend immediate actions that could be taken to address the Climate Emergency.  But the City’s financial crisis and the pandemic seem to have stalled all thought of action.  We welcome that the City’s budget finally includes funding to start the CAP update.  BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE URGENTLY!  The City is now in the process of preparing its Housing Element in order to accommodate the state mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation of 1,391 new residential housing units in the next 8 years. Many other large-scale construction projects are already in the pipeline. In order to lessen the impacts of the Climate Emergency, all NEW CONSTRUCTION, both residential and commercial, needs to be all electric requiring no gas pipelines.  There are certainly many other actions that can be taken well before the updated CAP is complete.  

We, the undersigned, ask the City Council to immediately direct the City staff to prepare a draft of an ordinance that requires new construction in El Cerrito to be all electric, and to present this draft to the City Council for review no later than September 30, 2022.  We also ask that the Climate Subcommittee, by the same date, present to the full City Council and the public additional immediate actions to be taken to address the Climate Emergency.  We don’t want El Cerrito to ignore the Climate Emergency any longer!