Owner/Client: County of San Diego Planning and Development Services (PDS)
Ascent has been retained by the County of San Diego to prepare a new Climate Action Plan (CAP) and associated Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The County is undertaking preparation of the updated CAP in response to litigation that led to rescission of the previous CAP. Ascent is preparing the baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory and emissions forecasts for community-wide sources and well as County internal operations. Ascent is also working with the County to develop GHG reduction targets for specific benchmark years (2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050). Ascent’s scope of work includes evaluation and quantification of the GHG reduction potential of the potential GHG reduction measures and a gap analysis to determine whether the proposed list of strategies would achieve the County’s target. Ascent will work with the County to define a CAP implementation plan and an evaluation and monitoring framework. Implementation of identified measures in the CAP will need proper staffing, financing, and resource allocation to ensure their success. The CAP will include a section on different methods to implement individual measures, monitoring GHG emissions in the County and maintaining and updating the CAP. Each measure will also have associated information such as recommended schedule of implementation, specific entities responsible for implementation, and potential financing mechanisms to achieve identified reduction targets. Ascent is also responsible for preparation of an EIR to assess the environmental impacts of the CAP. Ascent is also assisting the County with an extensive public outreach program and has been providing reports, presentations, and marketing materials to disseminate information to stakeholders and the general public.