CONNECT with the CityBuilding Decarbonization
A key strategy in San Diego’s Climate Action Plan is to transition buildings to zero emissions. This decarbonization effort aims to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and promote better public health outcomes for our communities.
In San Diego, homes and businesses rely on natural gas and electricity for power, heat, and operations. However, burning natural gas for building operations accounts for 20% of San Diego’s total greenhouse gas emissions, making it critical to decarbonize our buildings to meet our climate goals.
In line with the City’s Climate Action Plan and state law, San Diego’s electricity is increasingly supplied by clean and renewable sources. The City has committed to 100% renewable electricity in all municipal facilities with the Power100 program from San Diego Community Power. San Diego residents and businesses can do the same. Unfortunately, natural gas can never be made entirely clean, as it produces greenhouse gases when burned. It creates indoor and outdoor air pollution that harms not only our planet but significantly impacts the health of our residents.
San Diego must transition away from burning natural gas and fossil fuels throughout its built environment. This transition will require strategic planning and collaboration to ensure it is equitable and inclusive, with policies and programs shaped through ongoing community partnerships.
Jobs Impact Analysis
Recently, the City 
commissioned a Jobs Impact Analysis for San Diego's Building Decarbonization Policies. Review the presentation and technical appendix prepared by Inclusive Economics and the Building Electrification Institute.
What is Building Decarbonization?
Building decarbonization focuses on transitioning new development to zero emissions energy systems. Electrification, combined clean and renewable energy by San Diego Community Power, provides an immediate path to zero emissions buildings. For existing residential and non-residential buildings, this transition may involve energy retrofits, new high-efficiency electrical appliance and systems replacement programs, water reuse, and other emerging technologies for future commercial and industrial applications. Examples of high-efficiency electric appliances include air-source, water-source or ground-source heat pumps to provide buildings with space heating, cooling, and water heating, as well as induction cooktops and electric ovens for cooking.
Why Building Decarbonization?
Building decarbonization provides significant health, financial and environmental benefits:
Removing natural gas from homes improves indoor air quality, leading to better health for our residents, especially for San Diegans in smaller or older homes. A recent study found that children growing up in homes with gas stoves have a 42% increased risk of developing asthma. Switching to electric stoves removes harmful, invisible pollutants produced when burning natural gas in the home.
Removing natural gas from all San Diego buildings will require investment in a skilled workforce. While the transition will create new jobs, it will also have an impact on skilled gas and pipe workers unless we deliberately commit to a just transition for all workers. Building decarbonization paired with strong partnerships with our local workforce, strategic infrastructure investments and thoughtful labor policies will create high quality, good-paying jobs and leave no workers behind.
High efficiency electric appliances, such as heat pumps, are three to five times more energy efficient than their gas counterparts, reducing energy bills. Multiple studies have showed that newly constructed or retrofitted all-electric homes can significantly lower total utility bills. For new construction, the lifetime savings (upfront savings plus operating savings) can be between $130 and $540 per year for a household.
Electric appliances can be powered immediately by clean energy, such as rooftop solar, on-site renewable energy generation, or San Diego Community Power’s 100% renewable electricity rate option.
How will San Diego move forward with Building Decarbonization?
In 2018, the state of California adopted an ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality throughout the whole economy by 2045, eliminating emissions from direct fossil fuel combustion. To support this transition, in August 2021, the California Energy Commission unanimously passed amendments to the state building code which take a significant step toward removing natural gas in new construction. Over 45 cities across California have also updated their local building codes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health. The City of San Diego is evaluating building code amendments, tailored to local context and priorities. The City of San Diego is collaborating with skilled worker unions and the building industry to identify the right path for our City. The City has been and will continue to engage with San Diego businesses and residents, especially those in communities of concern, to ensure building decarbonization policies directly address their needs.
Reach Code
The City’s Climate Action Plan calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve net zero by 2035. Strategy one of the City of San Diego's Climate Action Plan aims to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings across the City and to improve air quality. This strategy includes three measures to address emissions in buildings and one of these is a high-performance Reach Code. This code will apply to both all-electric and mixed-fuel new single-family homes, low-rise multifamily homes, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to meet higher energy performance standards. The City of San Diego is exploring the development of a reach code aligned with the forthcoming 2025 Building Energy Code to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability in the region.
Benchmarking Ordinance
Benchmarking is the process of measuring a building’s energy use to understand its performance and identify opportunities to reduce building owners’ energy expenses.
The City of San Diego Climate Action Plan (CAP), adopted in 2015, calls for creating more energy-efficient buildings and ordinances to conserve and disclose energy use. In pursuing its CAP goals, the San Diego City Council passed the Building Energy Benchmarking Ordinance in February 2019. The ordinance requires commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet and multifamily and mixed-use buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and with 17 or more residential accounts to submit energy data to the City of San Diego in ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. Submissions are due by June 1 annually.
For more information on the City’s Benchmarking procedures see the following webpage: https://www.sandiego.gov/sustainability-mobility/climate-action/bd/benchmarking
Building Performance Standards (BPS)
Building Performance Standards are an emerging policy that establishes specific performance levels that existing buildings must achieve. A BPS may be adopted by state or local governments and applied to commercial and multifamily buildings. The City’s CAP calls for a 90% reduction in GHG emissions Citywide by 2035. To achieve this target, the City must work with building owners to improve building stock performance.
The proposed BPS Ordinance would expand the covered building list to 20,000 square feet of Gross Floor Area and has (1) no Active residential Utility Accounts, or (2) 17 or more Active residential Utility Accounts of each Energy type serving the building.
Building Decarbonization Roadmap
The decarbonization roadmap is a long-range strategic plan that outlines actions and measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing buildings. The roadmap supports the Climate Action Plan goal of a 90% reduction in GHG emissions by 2035. This roadmap will highlight actionable pathways to reduce carbon emissions and transition towards more sustainable and energy-efficient infrastructure. The Building Decarbonization Roadmap project is still in development.
Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant Pilot Program (EECBG)
In February 2024, the City of San Diego received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) from the Department of Energy (DOE), marking a pivotal step forward in the City’s commitment to environmental equity and sustainable community development. EECBG is formula-based funding designated for the creation and implementation of an appliance retrofit program. The program directly supports the Decarbonization of the Built Environment (Strategy 1) a cornerstone measure in the City of San Diego’s 2022 Climate Action Plan. Through the program, the City aims to demonstrate equity and leadership in climate action by setting a precedent for local initiatives focused on environmental sustainability and climate equity. The primary goal of the EECBG Pilot Program is to assist low- and moderate-income (LMI) households within the City of San Diego in transitioning from fossil fuel-based systems to clean, electric alternatives. The types of appliances include Heat Pump HVAC systems, Heat Pump Water Heaters, all electric cooktops/stoves, electric dryers and, where appropriate, electric paneling and wiring.
Clean Energy Career Map
The City of San Diego is actively fostering career development in the energy sector through an Energy Career Mapping initiative. With the support from the Julius Education Center, the City is committed to creating and implementing a comprehensive framework that identifies key energy-related career pathways, aligns them with emerging industry needs, and provides tailored training programs.
This initiative focuses on building a workforce that can support San Diego’s climate goals, including transitioning to 100% renewable energy and achieving net-zero carbon emissions. By collaborating with educational institutions, workforce development boards, and local energy companies, the City ensures the creation of training pipelines that lead to certifications, apprenticeships, and job placements in clean energy and sustainability roles.
Additionally, the career mapping initiative emphasizes inclusivity by targeting underrepresented and Communities of Concern, ensuring equitable access to resources, education, and job opportunities. Through these efforts, the City of San Diego is paving the way to being a leader in clean energy innovation, workforce development and equitable access.
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