Climate Action Campaign v. City of San Diego

Environmental groups and the City of San Diego reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit challenging the City’s 2022 Climate Action Plan and a related lawsuit challenging the growth plan for the Mira Mesa community. The settlement agreement provided that the City would take certain steps to monitor progress toward the Climate Action Plan’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2035 based on a model linear trajectory of annual reductions. Beginning in 2026, if the annual emissions target is not met within a 12.5% margin of error, then the City must prepare an amendment to the Climate Action Plan. The settlement agreement also set a schedule for annual reporting and established requirements for public sharing of information related to implementation of the Climate Action Plan.

Two non-profit organizations asked a California Superior Court to vacate the City of San Diego’s approvals of the City’s 2022 Climate Action Plan, which they alleged was “truly an aspirational policy document” that “does not include the detail or mechanisms to ensure its success.” The organizations alleged that the City failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, including because the City failed to adequately analyze or mitigate significant impacts and failed to specify criteria or standards to ensure the Climate Action Plan’s emission reductions would be achieved.