County approves carbon neutrality framework

Detailed plan seeks to rein in carbon emissions by local government, become carbon neutral by decade's end.

photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCB
Hikers descending toward the fog line at the Jenner Headland Preserve.

Sonoma County agencies and operations will be carbon neutral in six years.

At least that's the plan.

This week the county board of supervisors approved a 160+ page framework covering energy, transportation, trash, recycling and landfills, water, wildlife and natural and working lands.

The goal is to continue all county functions and services, without worsening the global climate crisis.

That's by bringing carbon emissions in line with sequestration.

According to the county's official climate action plan, progress is already being made.

The amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by county operations plummeted 37 percent between 2017 and 2021--although that year represented the peak of the COVID pandemic when many offices were at least partly shuttered and working from home was embraced.

Strategies going forward include things like transitioning county fleet vehicles and buses to electric power, buying cleaner power, and diverting all food and other organic waste away from landfills and to compost facilities.

A link to the full plan (in pdf format) can be found by scrolling through the county's press release which may be found here .