San Francisco’s city fleet is off of petroleum. This news release from Mayor Edwin M. Lee says the City and County of San Francisco has completely replaced it with renewable diesel, a change that will achieve a significant 50 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
“As the global climate negotiations conclude, San Francisco and cities worldwide must continue to lead by taking bold actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately,” said Mayor Lee. “These actions cannot wait. San Francisco has ended its use of petroleum diesel to fill up the City’s fleet of vehicles and will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality for our residents immediately today.”
Mayor Lee first made the announcement in Vatican City at the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences’ Modern Slavery & Climate Change: The Commitment of the Cities conference, joining Pope Francis, Governor Jerry Brown, representatives of the United Nations and mayors and local governors from around the world to drive awareness, dialogue and action at the local level on climate change and modern slavery – two pressing, interconnected issues highlighted in the Pope’s encyclical, Laudato Si’.
San Francisco completed the switch to renewable diesel at all of the City’s fueling sites. The City’s Fleet Management Division estimates a 50 percent reduction, or 50,000 metric tons, in greenhouse gas emission as a result of ending the use of petroleum diesel and replacing it with renewable diesel. Using renewable diesel will also reduce the emissions of harmful air pollutants that harm the health of local residents and which disproportionately hurt San Francisco’s low-income communities because so much heavy duty vehicle traffic occurs in and near those communities.
“San Francisco is leading by example through the innovative management of our fleet of vehicles to combat climate change,” said City Administrator Naomi M. Kelly. “The use of renewable diesel is cost-neutral to San Francisco due to state and federal incentives to use renewable diesel. And it will also result in cleaner air for our transit operators, firefighters, and men and women in our bus yards and garages.”