Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti this week released the city’s Green New Deal, which creates a roadmap to confront the current issues revolving around climate change.
Garcetti on Monday, April 29 spoke about the city’s sustainable future, which includes plans to tackle the climate emergency with accelerated targets and keep LA on track to be carbon neutral by 2050.
“Politicians in Washington don’t have to look across the aisle in Congress to know what a Green New Deal is — they can look across the country, to Los Angeles,” said Garcetti. “With flames on our hillsides and floods in our streets, cities cannot wait another moment to confront the climate crisis with everything we’ve got. L.A. is leading the charge, with a clear vision for protecting the environment and making our economy work for everyone.”
LA’s Green New Deal is guided by four key principles: a commitment to uphold the Paris Climate Agreement; a promise to deliver environmental justice and equity through an inclusive green economy; a plan to ensure every Angeleno has the ability to join the green economy by creating pipelines to good paying, green jobs; and a determination to lead by example within City government, showing the world what an urban Green New Deal looks like in practice.
The Green New Deal leads with bold action to zero out Los Angeles’ main sources of emissions: buildings, transportation, electricity, and trash. The goals of the plan include: Building a zero carbon electricity grid — reaching an accelerated goal of 80% renewable energy supply by 2036 as we lead California toward 100% renewables by 2045; creating a Jobs Cabinet to bring city, labor, educational, and business leaders together to support our effort to create 300,000 green jobs by 2035 and 400,000 by 2050; mandating that all new municipally owned buildings and major renovations be all-electric, effective immediately, and that every building in Los Angeles — from skyscrapers to single family homes — become emissions free by 2050.
Other considerations include phasing out styrofoam by 2021, ending use of plastic straws and single-use takeout containers by 2028, recycling 100% of wastewater by 2035, and maintaining at least 90,000 trees.
The Green New Deal’s targets solidify L.A.’s position as the national leader in solar energy, electric vehicle infrastructure, and green jobs. It incorporates initiatives from 44 partner organizations, employing a unique, collaborative, multi-sector approach to meeting our shared goals of a more sustainable, equitable city. Our plan also calls for a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 — outpacing the standards set by the United Nations IPCC report.
By 2050, Garcetti’s administration boasts that the Green New Deal is expected to save more than 1,600 lives, 660 trips to the hospital, and $16 billion in avoided healthcare expenses each year.
Four years ago, Garcetti released Los Angeles’ Sustainable City pLAn — his vision for a more sustainable, prosperous, and just Los Angeles, built on three Es: the environment, the economy, and equity.
The Ccty has already met or exceeded 90% of the pLAn’s near-term goals on time or early, and Angelenos have seen the results: LA became the number-one solar city in America, pioneered new transportation technologies, reduced the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 11% in a single year, and created more than 35,000 green jobs. (AJPress)
