CC Resolution No. 18-118 Declaring Support for the National Climate AssessmentRESOLUTION NO. 18-118
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CUPERTINO
DECLARING SUPPORT FOR THE NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT
WHEREAS, the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment, a quadrennial
report submitted to the President and Congress mandated by the Global Change
Research Act of 1990, was released in November 2018, which concludes that
Americans are being affected by climate change due to human activities and that
states like California in the West are particularly vulnerable to extreme
temperature, decreased water availability, wildfire and an increase in extreme
weather events;
WHEREAS, the City of Cupertino has experienced impacts due to a
changing climate including extreme weather events like increasing temperature
heat waves in the summer, less predictable rain, drought, air quality impacts due
to wildfire and negative public health effects;
WHEREAS, the magnitude of climate change beyond the next few decades
depends primarily on the amount of heat trapping gases emitted globally, and
how sensitive the earth's climate is to those emissions;
WHEREAS, through the implementation of the Cupertino Climate Action
Plan and other actions the City has taken, greenhouse gas emissions have been
reduced communitywide by 13% as of the last inventory conducted with 2015
data, and are on target to meet our 2020 emission reduction goals;
WHEREAS, in April 2016 world leaders from 175 countries recognized the
threat of climate change and the urgent need to combat it by signing the Paris
Agreement, agreeing to keep warming "well below 2°C above pre-industrial
levels" and to "pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C";
WHEREAS, in August 2018, the State of California released its Fourth
Climate Assessment which supports the conclusion that the Bay Area is already
seeing the impacts of climate change and these changes are projected to increase
significantly in the coming decade over the region;
WHEREAS, the City of Cupertino passed Resolution No. 18-094 on
September 18, 2018, declaring a climate emergency and calling on the State of
CC Resolution No. 18-118
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California, United States of America and all governments and peoples worldwide
to initiate an emergency mobilization effort to mitigate climate change, stop rising
greenhouse gas emissions, and immediately initiate an effort to safely draw down
carbon from the atmosphere;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of
Cupertino supports the science and findings of the Fourth National Climate
A ssessment, ancl recognizes thanhe-glob-al-climateis-cha11ging and this change-is
apparent across a wide range of observations.
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the
City of Cupertino this 18th day of December, 2018, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
ATTEST:
Members of the City Council
Scharf, Chao, Paul, Sinks, Willey
None
None
None
APPROVED:
Grace Schmidt, City Clerk Steven Scharf, Mayor,
City of Cupertino