County’s Climate Plan Misses an Opportunity to Prioritize Practical Strategies for Adaptation
The following op-ed by GSA President, Christopher Valadez, was published in Monterey County Now on April 2.
The Monterey County Community Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CCAAP) began as a technical update to the County’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory – a reasonable step toward greater transparency. The public draft released in March evolved into a far more ambitious document with aggressive local reduction targets (28 percent by 2030 and 86 percent by 2045) and a framework that contemplates new rules, performance standards and a new county bureaucracy of 12.5 full-time employees. Estimated cost for the County: $16.7 million per year.
While the intent to address climate risks is understandable, the plan misses the mark by over-emphasizing local mitigation measures while under-emphasizing resilience (the ability of a community to anticipate, absorb and recover from climate change effects) and adaptation. These imbalances are exacerbated with the glaring omission of a private-sector economic analysis and the risks of imposing real costs on businesses and residents.
Monterey County is well positioned to lead on resilience.
But most concerning is the draft shows significant of time, resources and money spent without meeting the stated objective of positively influencing climate change.
Monterey County’s total annual emissions are less than 0.0023 percent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Even if the County achieved 100-percent elimination, the resulting change in atmospheric concentrations or global temperatures would be undetectable. Climate change is a global challenge. A single county’s mitigation efforts, however well intentioned, are statistically insignificant without coordinated worldwide action.
The plan never seriously grapples with this core reality.
Instead, it relies heavily on uncertain and reversible agricultural soil carbon sequestration to meet its targets. Adding and accelerating cost pressures could threaten the viability of many family farms and operations potentially leading to reduced acreage, consolidation or conversion out of production. The ripple effects would extend to the county’s broader economy.
Monterey County is exceptionally well positioned to lead on resilience and adaptation. Its adjacency to the Pacific Ocean (with its cooling marine layer), extensive carbon sinks (66.4 million metric tons of carbon stock across forests, rangelands, croplands and wetlands) and productive working lands provide natural advantages that should be leveraged, not overlooked.
We urge the County to reorient the CCAAP around resilience and adaptation. It could include targeted investments in water storage; expanded wildfire defense and fuel management; protection and enhancement of existing carbon sinks; and emergency preparedness.
These steps are practical, locally impactful and align with the County’s affordability realities.