Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas returned last week from Paris where she shared the city’s approach in tackling climate change at the United Nations COP21 Climate Change Conference.
More than 200 world leaders gathered for the conference to hammer out a global agreement in combating the reduction of climate change.
“A lot of the cities that were invited to the COP conference throughout the world were localities that are trying to do something about climate change,” Casillas Salas said.
“We haven’t been able to get things through Congress and really, on the global scale, it’s a lot more difficult to reach agreements than to focus on what you can do locally,” she said.
The mayor was invited to attend by the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives because Chula Vista is at the forefront with carbon reduction and creating a sustainability plan.
Casillas Salas said she learned that 70 percent of all carbon emissions are emitted by cities. She said cities can reduce their carbon footprint.
The city of Chula Vista, she said, in 2013 adopted the Multiple Species Conservation Program, a long-term habitat conservation plan developed to address the needs of multiple species and the preservation of natural vegetation.
Casillas Salas said Chula Vista became the first city in the county to adopt and implement such a plan.
Casillas Salas also said the city’s franchise agreements with its trash hauler and San Diego Gas & Electric is climate friendly because it requires that all their utility vehicles that operate in the city use biodiesel fuel or alternative sources of energy so they won’t emit carbon dioxide.
She added that the methane gas produced at the landfill is captured and used to produce energy. She said the city’s public works facility is run by the energy generated by the methane gas captured from the landfill.
As a result of adjusting to climate change, Casillas Salas, who is the vice chair of the transportation committee on SANDAG’s board, said the city has benefitted financially.
“Because of what we’ve been doing to prepare for our bus rapid transit and the smart city planning that we’ve had out there in Eastlake, we’re on the top of the list to get cap and trade funding for that,” she said. “Our efforts are coming back to us.”
