SAN DIEGANS WEIGH IN ON CUTTING CARBON EMISSIONS

‘Decarbonization playbook’ offers a menu of options for the county

A workshop on the county’s new “decarbonization playbook” — the last public meeting before supervisors vote on the document — underscored the challenges of rapidly cutting carbon emissions without getting mired in political disputes or sparking exorbitant electric rates.

Students, business officials and other San Diego residents weighed in Tuesday on the report, which offers guidelines to cutting local carbon emissions.

It’s part an effort over the past two years to map out steps toward net carbon zero, the point at which carbon removed from the atmosphere equals the amount of carbon emitted. To reach that goal by midcentury and avert the worst effects of climate change, officials said, the county, cities, universities and businesses must join forces to cut fossil fuel pollution.

“This needs a scale of effort that we know that none of us can achieve on our own,” said Murtaza Baxamusa, county program manager for regional sustainability. “This particular decade is very critical as far as whether we turn things around.”

The Tuesday event at Mission Bay High School was the final session in a series of workshops held in each supervisorial district to provide information and seek comment on the playbook, released last month.

While some speakers raised questions about specific practical matters, such as sourcing building materials or communicating the plan to the public, a group of UC San Diego students made a broader policy argument, urging county officials to prioritize urban and rooftop solar projects over large-scale utility solar farms.

“We want things to be fair for constituents, and we want them to have the option to have their own rooftop solar rather than pushing it into the backcountry, which could lead to land disputes and potentially slow down decarbonization,” said UCSD student Lizzie Spencer, who attended with classmates from a class on the psychology of climate change.