The city of Pasadena has declared a climate emergency and set a goal of sourcing 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2030.
The emergency declaration doesn’t add any further legal powers or obligations to address the issue, according to city attorney Michele Bagneris, and is more of a “policy statement.”
The resolution, passed unanimously at the city’s Jan. 30 meeting, will direct the city manager to use Pasadena Water and Power’s 2023 integrated resource planning process to bring the council different approaches that will meet the carbon-free goal.
Pasadena Water and Power undergoes a resource planning process every five years that guides how power is sourced in the city for the next 20 years.
A community meeting on the plan will be held virtually Wednesday, Feb. 22 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
According to its 2021 power content label, which annually summarizes the resources which comprise the city’s power supply portfolio, Pasadena generated 47% of its electricity from coal.
City Manager Miguel Marquez emphasized the goal could be subject to constraints such as safety, reliability and affordability.
“There’s a lot of complexity to how power is obtained and sourced and distributed and a lot of regulations that come into play but certainly we are committed to doing our level best to achieve the goal,” Marquez said at the meeting. “And I think our IRP process will help us really analyze what we can do.”
An earlier version of the resolution would have set a goal of sourcing electricity from carbon-neutral sources, but the language was strengthened after public push back in the municipal services committee.
Activists warned the original language would have allowed balancing emissions using carbon offsets rather than completely halting carbon emissions.
