Mayor Eric Garcetti signed an executive directive Monday that he said enhances provisions of the city’s Green New Deal to confront climate issues.
“The science could not be clearer and the stakes could not be higher,” Garcetti said. “We must act this decade to save the planet and create a more equitable, prosperous and healthy future for our children and grandchildren.”
The directive was called “L.A.’s Green New Deal: Leading By Example,” which is the 25th executive directive Garcetti has signed since taking office. The theme of the signing was “A Decade of Action,” in reference to scientific reports that claim the planet needs to stop using fossil fuels by 2030.
“There is literally no time to waste because what we do in the next 10 years will determine the health of our planet and whether there’s a job, a paycheck and a place for everyone in our economy,” Garcetti said.
The city’s Green New Deal aims to remove non-renewable energy from Los Angeles’ main sources of harmful emissions, which includes buildings, transportation, electricity and trash, Garcetti said.
The directive includes sustainability actions for the city to:
— develop a series of bus and light rail infrastructure improvements such as bus-only lanes, signal priority and queue jumpers to improve transit speeds by 30% by 2028;
— promote walking, bicycling and micro-mobility with a comprehensive citywide network of active transportation corridors, including protected bike lanes, paths along regional waterways and low-stress neighborhood bike improvements;
— encourage city pension boards to explore divesting from fossil fuel companies and investing in the green economy;
— mandate that all new construction, major upgrades and retrofits of municipally owned buildings demonstrate a pathway to carbon neutrality;
— accelerate the city’s bus fleet target to be entirely zero-emission in time for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games;
— support Metro in the development of a congestion pricing pilot program;
— expand low-income and multi-family household access to local clean energy;
— ensure that City Hall is zero-waste by 2025; and
— amend the city’s Green Building Code to ensure all new roofs and renovations are “cool roofs.”
Garcetti said the city is already taking steps in the right direction, although wildfires and other natural disasters brought on by climate change continue to present a threat.
He said in the last four years, Los Angeles has been recognized as the top solar energy user in America, has pioneered new transportation technologies, reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 11% in a single year and created more than 35,000 jobs in cleaner energy.