An advocacy group gave the city of San Diego high marks Wednesday as it released its first report card rating area governments on their plans to address climate change.
The report from the Climate Action Campaign gave the city of San Diego 98 points out of 100 for its plan but said other cities were falling short in focusing on the environmental challenge. Only seven cities had policies that could be rated, while some others were in the process of development or updating, according to the group.
San Diego's plan received top marks for being legally binding, priorities made for low-income communities, clean energy and waste diversion goals and transportation plans.
The group called the plan "the most ambitious" in the state and "a model" for the region.
For other area cities, Del Mar received a 73, Del Mar a 70, Carlsbad a 64 and National City a 52. The climate plans for Escondido and Vista both received fewer than 50 points, while it was pointed out that Coronado, El Cajon, Imperial Beach, Poway and Santee are not developing such plans.
"In the face of a new president threatening to dismantle federal progress on climate and clean energy, leadership from local governments is more important than ever," said Nicole Capretz, the group's executive director.
"We hope our report card will inform the public about what their city is doing to slash carbon pollution and protect their kids' future," Capretz said. "There are 19 local governments in our region, yet only 7 had gradable climate plans. Our goal is to spur even more cities to take action to safeguard our quality of life."
While the city of San Diego has already begun pursuing the goals in its plan, the campaign said it would wait for future reports to rate implementation efforts — since the plans are relatively new. San Diego's was approved by the City Council about one year ago.
“The families in these communities deserve a better future. They deserve a future that provides a good infrastructure. That provides a healthy environment. That provides a pathway to ensure that the people in these communities strive for what they deserve, which is a better future," said Georgette Gomez, San Diego Councilmember elect.
