In April 2013, the court set aside the County’s approval of the climate action plan (CAP). The court held that the CAP was not properly approved because it should have been subject to a supplemental environmental impact report (EIR). (The county had concluded in an addendum to the program EIR for the County’s 2011 General Plan Update (GPU) that the CAP fell within the program EIR’s scope.) The court further held that even if the CAP had been properly approved, it failed to meet the mitigation obligations in the program EIR for the GPU, which required the County to set detailed greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and deadlines and to implement enforceable greenhouse gas emissions reduction measures. Noting that the CAP describes itself as a “living document” and as a “a platform for the County to build strategies to meet its emission-reduction targets,” the court stated: “There is no time for ‘building strategies’ or ‘living documents;’ as the PEIR quite rightly found, enforceable mitigation measures are necessary now.”

Challenge to county’s approval of greenhouse gas review standards and climate action plan.

Sierra Club v. San Diego County

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Sierra Club v. San Diego County - minute order

Filed

United States of America

California

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

This sector provides communication services, software development, and IT solutions.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Sierra Club v. San Diego County - minute order

Target

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector