We believe: The region should be environmentally just, carbon-neutral,
and resilient to climate change and earthquakes.
Our Goals
• Decarbonize buildings.
• Make the region resilient to sea level rise and other climate-driven natural disasters.
• Improve communities’ resilience to earthquakes.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
California is already paying the cost of climate change impacts from devastating wildfires, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events. By investing in climate action now, voters can reduce future costs both economic and social. California Prop. 4 would put $10 billion toward safe drinking water, drought resilience, ecosystem restoration, resilience to natural hazards, and more.
SPUR signed on to a coalition letter opposing the elimination of the CalSHAPE, or the California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency Program, which funds HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) improvements in schools. These investments will be necessary to support new indoor heat standard and the ever-worsening hazard of wildfire-affected air.
As the Bay Area phases out sales of gas furnaces and water heaters, more and more property owners will need to install zero-pollution, high-efficiency electric heat pumps in homes. City planners must quickly make these installations easier and more affordable by amending municipal zoning ordinances and permitting processes. In the first of two articles on accelerating heat pump adoption, SPUR recommends four zoning code strategies.
Bay Area residents are keenly aware of the threat of sea level rise as the planet warms — but most of us know far less about the impacts of groundwater rise. In the Bay Area, those impacts will be felt long before sea level rise causes overland flooding. That’s one of the takeaways of a new SPUR case study that examines how one Bay Area community, East Palo Alto, would likely be affected in the absence of adaptation efforts. We spoke with author Sarah Atkinson about her findings.
Bay Area cities planning for sea level rise need to address another emerging hazard: groundwater rise. SPUR partnered with community-based organization Nuestra Casa to investigate how rising groundwater is likely to affect one Bay Area city: East Palo Alto. Our case study explains specific risks and offers five recommendations — all applicable to other vulnerable communities along the San Francisco Bay shore.
SPUR joined s a support letter on Senate Bill 382 which would require a the seller of single-family residential properties to disclose information related to electrical systems of the property, and to disclose the existence of any state or local requirements relating to the future replacement of existing gas-powered appliances installed at the property. The bill will help prospective buyers seek safe and healthy living conditions, and learn about existing electrical systems so that they can make informed purchases.