Action 1-5 · ES

By 2035, transition the district system steam loop serving downtown and Civic Center to renewable and/or GHG-free energy.

Timing: By 2035
Lead department: SF Public Utilities Commission
Strategy: Supply 100% renewable and/or GHG-free electricity at affordable rates.
In the plan: Page 41 of the published PDF

Implementation status

Departments report status each January through the City's monitoring, evaluation, and reporting cycle. The first report on the 2026 plan covers calendar year 2026. Status, milestones, and notes will appear here.

In the emissions model

Appendix D models this action as part of Transition District Steam Loop to be Renewable, one of the buildings strategies expected to cut that sector's emissions 68% below 1990 by 2030 and 93% by 2040.

Per-action tonnage is not published; the model reports impacts by sector. See the emissions trajectory.

Racial and Social Equity ReviewWhat the equity review said about this strategy

Equity impacts

Environmental Justice (EJ) Communities face historically disproportionate burdens of energy pollution. Clean energy sources should aim to alleviate this inequity and ensure energy affordability for low-income and EJ community residents. Often, EJ communities face barriers to benefit from clean, renewable energy sources: primarily financial barriers.

Recommendations

Provide an update on how implementation of this strategy is performing against the equity metric: the percentage of eligible SFPUC customers on low-income rates.
Explore incentives for EJ communities to adopt 100% renewable energy while mitigating financial burden and promoting earlier adoption ahead of 2040 goal.
Focus outreach in EJ communities to raise awareness of benefits of 100% renewable energy, and work with CBOs to ensure it is responsive to needs of the community.

Partly reflected in the final plan. Action ES-1-4 sets a 75% CARE/FERA enrollment target and ES-2-4 requires reporting on equity actions in SFPUC programs.

Source: 2026 Climate Action Plan, Appendix C. Adoption status is our reading of the final text, pending SFE confirmation.