San Francisco dropped a major climate update today, unveiling the city’s first fully refreshed Climate Action Plan in five years, and this time, transportation is squarely in the spotlight. City officials say the roadmap is designed to push a lot more trips onto buses, bikes, and sidewalks while locking in hard numbers for cutting citywide greenhouse gas emissions.
The SFMTA’s Moving SF account helped roll out the news and highlighted that the update will touch everything from Muni service to street design. According to SFMTA, it is the first time in half a decade that San Francisco has overhauled its climate plan, and transportation is framed as one of the city’s main tools for slashing emissions.
Moving SF - San Francisco has released the latest version of its Climate Action Plan. It's the first time the city’s climate plan has been updated in 5 years, and transportation is a major focus of the city's climate action efforts. Learn more ⬇️🌳🚎https://t.co/XJHdk87QS6
— SFMTA (@SFMTA_Muni) April 17, 2026
Transportation Takes Center Stage
New figures from the city’s Environment Department show transportation is responsible for about 45% of San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions, with buildings close behind at roughly 44%. The updated plan sets a 2030 target of cutting emissions 61% below 1990 levels and lays out a net-zero goal for 2040. Those sector breakdowns and goals appear in the draft Climate Action Plan update, which links the big-picture targets to specific steps such as boosting transit funding, building protected bike and pedestrian networks, expanding public EV charging, and using pricing tools to support equity, according to the San Francisco Environment Department.
City Moves To Codify The Plan
At City Hall, lawmakers are already moving to lock the update into law. An ordinance to amend the Environment Code would revise the city’s climate goals and spell out which departments are on the hook for delivering results. That legislation cleared the Land Use and Transportation Committee and was placed on the Board of Supervisors' April agenda, according to the Board of Supervisors.
What Riders And Drivers Should Watch
For people who ride Muni, the renewed push for transit funding could translate into more projects focused on speed and reliability. For people who drive, the plan points to a gradual but steady reshaping of the curb and the roadway in favor of buses, bikes, and charging stations.
The SFMTA is already testing some of this on the ground, with battery-electric bus pilots and new charging infrastructure folded into its sustainability efforts. Agency materials note that those projects are part of a bigger push to reach an all-electric fleet and help the city hit a carbon-neutral target by 2040, according to SFMTA. In other words, the long game here does not exactly favor gas.
Next Steps
City departments are slated to begin rolling out priority actions between 2026 and 2030 and will publicly report on how that work is going. The Environment Department has asked residents to dig into the plan details and share feedback. Full documents and public participation information are posted on the city’s Climate Action Plan page, according to SF Environment.
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