Sierra Club Files Suit Against County of San Diego Demanding a Concrete and Serious Climate Plan

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Jonathon Berman, jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Today, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit challenging the County of San Diego’s latest iteration of its Climate Action Plan, which again fails to set forth concrete, enforceable measures that adequately reduce the climate change impacts of development in the county. The lawsuit alleges that the Climate Action Plan relies too heavily on carbon credit programs located outside of the county, stating that San Diego officials will not be able to survey and enforce the authenticity of these credits and therefore does not actually achieve confirmable emissions reductions.

San Diego’s climate plan calls for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 77 percent below 2014 levels by 2050 but relies on offsetting emissions through carbon credits to get there. Under this proposal, developers are allowed to maintain business as usual all while spending money to take credit for global carbon reductions that are difficult to confirm.

In response, Sierra Club San Diego Conservation Chair George Courser released the following statement:

“The San Diego Board of Supervisors once again is failing the people they are charged to protect. Rather than calling for unenforceable actions that can easily be cast aside and ignored, the Board must uphold what has been legally required of them and protect the clean air and water and health of San Diegans.”

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.