Climate Change: How Will Marin Adapt?*

Published: September 11, 2020 5 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F6

Findings and Recommendations 6 findings

Climate change mitigation efforts by Marin governments have been notably effective in meeting their goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Response: Agree. The Town of Ross has worked with the County, Marin cities and towns, as well as other local partners and community organizations to address climate change. The Town has successfully reduced local greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions thus far to 28% below 2005 baseline levels, exceeding the 20% reduction goal of our Climate Action Plan. Additional GHG emission reductions will be necessary to continue the trend and meet State emission reduction goals for 2030 and 2050.

Related Recommendations (1)

The board of supervisors, in collaboration with the municipalities and other agencies affected by climate change, should convene a multi-jurisdictional task force (referred to in this report as the Marin Climate Adaptation Task Force) charged with developing a single, comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional adaptation strategy for all of Marin. Response: This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or reasonable. The Town of Ross has worked with the County, Marin cities and towns, as well as other local partners and community organizations to address climate change. The Town has successfully reduced local greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions thus far to 28% below 2005 baseline levels, exceeding the 20% reduction goal of our Climate Action Plan. Additional GHG emission reductions will be necessary to continue the trend and meet State emission reduction goals for 2030 and 2050. However, it is unclear whether a single, comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional adaption strategy for all of Marin is the best way to approach addressing the various impacts of climate change. Ross is an active and supportive participant in regional initiatives that benefit communities throughout Marin County. If the Board of Supervisors convenes a new multi- jurisdictional effort concerning climate change, the Town will review the proposal to determine if the effort and participation is likely to be beneficial to the community. Each member of the Marin Climate & Energy Partnership should declare its support for

Adaptation planning is essential to protect local public utility and transportation infrastructure as well as private property interests, and to enable Marin's citizens to maintain their current standards of living. Response: Agree.

No recommendations for this finding

With the BayWAVE and C-SMART initial vulnerability assessments completed, the county is now well-positioned to focus on adaptation planning and policies related to sea level rise. Response: Agree. The existing adaptation efforts across the county pay insufficient attention to the other

No recommendations for this finding

potential effects of climate change, including impacts on public health, ecosystems, and social equity. Response: Partially disagree. Town of Ross elected officials and staff have been active participants in the countywide "working group" identified in the Grand Jury Report and Drawdown: Marin efforts as well as the Marin Climate and Energy Partnership for many years. The Town is already in the beginning stages of preparing an update to its General Plan which will broadly address climate change and will include an Environmental Justice element. There are insufficient staff and financial resources devoted to climate change adaptation

Related Recommendations (1)

broadening the partnership's mission and increasing its funding as necessary to enable it to support overall climate change planning efforts, including both mitigation and adaptation in cities, towns, and other member agencies throughout the county. Response: This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or reasonable. The Marin Climate & Energy Partnership's (MCEP) current mission statement 5 4 L . already includes a reference to adaptation ("... discuss, study, and implement overarching policies and programs, ranging from emission reduction strategies to adaptation..."). MCEP is an example of a successful regional collaboration to which the Town remains committed and to which we contribute staffing and financial resources currently. The Town acknowledges that the MCEP has predominantly focused on mitigation efforts and would support an increased prioritization of climate adaptation efforts. The Town will determine its support to an expanded mission and increased funding for MCEP based on the specifics of any proposals brought to its members for consideration.

efforts across county government as well as in the cities; towns, and other agencies, and many of the existing efforts are highly dependent on grant funding. Response: Agree. Cross-jurisdictional collaboration and coordination will be required for successful

No recommendations for this finding

adaptation efforts, but Marin lacks any overarching organizational or governance structure to facilitate this. Response: Partially disagree. Cross-jurisdictional collaboration and coordination is essential to address climate change and collaboration is already part of current adaption efforts. Town staff and elected officials have been actively working with Marin county, city, and town colleagues on mitigation and adaptation strategies. Although there is currently no one overarching organizational or governance structure to facilitate adaptation efforts in Marin, there are numerous existing collaborations that are well-positioned to successfully advance countywide adaptation work including the Marin Climate and Energy Partnership (MCEP), Drawdown: Marin, Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers Climate Action Committee, BayWAVE, and the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. There are also numerous regional collaborations focused on adaptation including Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network, Bay Adapt, and Adapting to Rising Tides. It is unclear whether a single, comprehensive, multi- jurisdictional adaption strategy for all of Marin is the best way to approach the various impacts of climate change.

No recommendations for this finding

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.