Laguna Beach continues to showcase its dedication to climate change combat with the progression of its Climate Action & Adaptation Plan (CAAP) towards a community open house slated for Tuesday, November 14. Lauded as a top priority by the Laguna Beach City Council, the CAAP is aimed at refreshing the city's strategies to be in compliance with California's stringent climate change goals, according to the City of Laguna Beach.
CAAP is an extension of Laguna Beach's previous climate change efforts such as the 2001 "Vision 2030" and the 2009 Climate Protection Action Plan (CPAP). The central goal of the CAAP is to curtail the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), integrate climate change adaptation methods, and increase our resilience to potential disasters yielded by climate change.
The city has notably accomplished over 95% of the goals set out in 2009 under the CPAP, which were based on the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement (2007). The CAAP provides a platform to reconsider and revamp earlier goals in alignment with California's progressive climate laws despite Laguna Beach's considerable progress.
Recently, California put forward significant climate legislature to significantly scale down its GHG gases. For instance, the California law (AB 1279) of 2022 laid out a statewide goal to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2045 and eventually ensuring net negative GHG emissions. It ambitiously aimed to reduce GHG emissions by minimum 85% below the emissions figure of 1990. It set an interim goal of curtailing GHG emissions 40 percent below the 1990 levels by 2030 (SB 32), bolstering California's determination towards a more eco-friendly future.
The forthcoming community open house, part of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, further stresses the necessity of active and widespread public participation. The open house is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on November 14 at the Community and Susi Q Center.
