Sustainability and Resilience
Our goal: Eliminate carbon emissions and create resilient, environmentally just communities.
SPUR’s Five-Year Priorities:
• Eliminate the use of fossil fuel in buildings.
• Use nature-based solutions to make communities resilient to sea level rise.
• Make sure that all people and ecosystems have the water they need to thrive.
• Improve seismic safety of buildings and advance hazard planning and preparedness.
SPUR Report
Watershed Moments
Climate scientists predict that California will experience longer, more frequent droughts as the climate warms. How can the Bay Area better manage the limited water it has? SPUR, Greenbelt Alliance and Pacific Institute teamed up to highlight six Northern California leaders who are pioneering more sustainable approaches to water use.
SPUR Report
Water for a Growing Bay Area
The Bay Area is projected to add 2 million jobs and as many as 6.8 million people in the next 50 years. But can we add more jobs and build more housing without using more water? New research from SPUR and the Pacific Institute says yes.
SPUR Report
Safety First: Improving Hazard Resilience in the Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area is both a treasured place and a hazardous environment where flooding, wildfires and earthquakes are common today. As a region exposed to multiple hazards, how can we manage for all of them at the same time?
Ongoing Initiative
The Resilient City
We know that another major earthquake will strike San Francisco — we just don’t know when. Since 2008, SPUR has led a comprehensive effort to retrofit the buildings and infrastructure that sustain city life. Our Resilient City Initiative recommends steps the city should take before, during and after the next big quake.
Article
Lessons Learned From California’s COVID-19 Water Debt Relief Program
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Legislature established the California Water and Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program to provide financial relief for unpaid water bills. But water affordability struggles won’t end with the pandemic. The state will need to build upon its first experiment with water bill assistance to weather ongoing climate change and income inequality. SPUR investigates the success of the $985 million program and looks at lessons learned.
Ongoing Initiative
Ocean Beach Master Plan
Ocean Beach, one of San Francisco’s most treasured landscapes, faces significant challenges. Since 2010, SPUR has led an extensive interagency and public process to develop the Ocean Beach Master Plan, a comprehensive vision to address sea level rise, protect infrastructure, restore coastal ecosystems and improve public access.
Updates and Events
The IRA Is Historic, but We Still Need Prop. 30 to Fight Climate Change
News /The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by President Biden last month, is the largest ever federal investment in fighting climate change. While we as Americans should be taking a victory lap for this momentous achievement, we should not for one moment think that the investments in the IRA are alone sufficient to tackle climate change. To win this generation’s greatest fight, we will need major continued investments at the federal, state and local levels. That’s why SPUR is supporting Prop. 30, a measure which would make historic investments in fighting climate change — investments that pay off in the form of fuel cost savings and avoided premature deaths, asthma attacks and cleaner air.
SPUR Supports SB 222, A Framework for Statewide Water Affordability Assistance Program
Advocacy LetterSB 222 would establish a first in the nation statewide Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program to ensure that all Californians can access safe drinking water and wastewater services regardless of income. Water bill assistance will provide California a pathway to raise local revenue to adapt water infrastructure to the stresses of climate change without making water unaffordable for low-income customers.
SPUR and fellow advocates call on MTC to support and strengthen draft transit-oriented communities policy
Advocacy LetterSPUR, Enterprise Community Partners, Transform, and NPH have led a coalition of advocates pushing a bold and equitable regional Transit-Oriented Communities policy. The latest draft would deliver strong residential and commercial growth around the region's transit hubs, while increasing affordability and protecting against displacement. SPUR and fellow advocates called for further action to ensure that the policy affirmatively furthers affordable housing, and limits auto-oriented development.
SPUR urges Governor to sign bill to make parking cash-out work
Advocacy LetterSPUR-sponsored AB2206 clarifies how to determine the amount of cash to which an employee is entitled, making it easier for employees to follow the law and easier for jurisdictions to enforce it. The bill was approved by the legislature and awaits Governor Newsom's signature.
Finding a Way to Build: Can the Bay Area Learn from Copenhagen’s 1990s Reinvention?
News /Comparing 2022 Copenhagen to the Bay Area of 2022 is like comparing apples to oranges. Aside from a few one-offs, most projects in Copenhagen would not be easily transferable to the Bay Area at scale due to foundational differences in the way our governments operate, from the national level on down. What would be more transferable would be to apply the lessons learned in the 1990s-era Copenhagen to the Bay Area in 2022.
The Sustainable City: Learning from Copenhagen’s Plan for Zero Carbon
News /Copenhagen has set a goal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral city by 2025. On our study trip this summer, we learned that the city’s commitment to sustainability is embedded in its long-range land use plans and goes back to the middle of the 20th century. Copenhagen’s success in realizing these plans comes from a strategic combination of investments and partnerships that have made it possible to create urban neighborhoods with mixed-income housing, transit access, bicycle lanes and green infrastructure. Together, all of these efforts contribute to the goal of a zero-carbon city.