photo of estuary at Crissy Field at sunset

Sustainability and Resilience

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.

transect of a bayshore neighborhood with ground water beneath the soil

SPUR Report

Look Out Below

Bay Area cities planning for sea level rise need to address another emerging hazard: groundwater rise. Our case study on East Palo Alto offers recommendations applicable to other vulnerable communities along the San Francisco Bay shore.
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illustration of houses plugging into the electricity grid

SPUR Report

Closing the Electrification Affordability Gap

New Bay Area regulations are ushering in a transition from polluting gas furnaces and water heaters to zero-emissions electric heat pumps. SPUR’s action plan shows how to make this transition affordable for low-income households.
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photo of Ocean Beach in San Francisco

Initiative

Ocean Beach Master Plan

San Francisco's Ocean Beach faces significant challenges. SPUR led a public process to develop a comprehensive vision to address sea level rise, protect infrastructure, restore coastal ecosystems, and improve public access.
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historic photo of houses damaged in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Initiative

The Resilient City

We know that another major earthquake will strike San Francisco — we just don’t know when. SPUR's Resilient City Initiative recommends steps the city should take before, during, and after the next big quake.
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Updates and Events

Palo Alto

LA Fires: It’s Time to Rethink Risk Mitigation to Save California's Home Insurance Market

News /
California’s increasingly extreme weather, exemplified by the Los Angeles fires, is fueling a home insurance crisis, with many insurers canceling plans or raising premiums. California has already begun to implement reforms in the insurance industry, but more must be done. SPUR highlights the urgent need to accurately price hazard risk, advance risk mitigation through smart land use planning, and establish voluntary buyout programs for high-risk properties.
Great Highway Sunset

California’s Largest Pedestrian Project Expands the Vision of a SPUR-Led Climate Adaptation Plan

News /
San Francisco voters recently passed a SPUR-cosponsored measure to realize the largest pedestrian project in California’s history. The permanent promenade along a two-mile stretch of the coastal highway expands the vision of SPUR’s 2012 Ocean Beach Master Plan, the core elements of which the California Coastal Commission just approved. The win: a resilient public coastline offering community benefits.

Support Letter for the City of Oakland’s Resolution on Multi-Story Non-Ductile Concrete Seismic Retrofitting

Advocacy Letter
In December, the City of Oakland adopted a resolution directing the Planning & Building Department to launch a Study of a citywide non-ductile concrete building retrofit program - including draft retrofit standards, compliance timelines, and a review of at-risk buildings. SPUR drafted this letter in support of the resolution. We will remain engaged in this effort as it moves forward.
Construction worker, Jake Holmgren, installs new heating system inside resident's home in South Seattle.

Smoothing the Transition to Heat Pumps, Part 3: State-Level Legislation

News /
As the Bay Area phases out sales of gas water heaters and gas furnaces, property owners will need to install zero-pollution, high-efficiency electric heat pump devices in buildings when the existing devices fail. But the current process is complicated and expensive. In this installment of our series on improving the process, we explore state-level action to mandate, incentivize, guide, and resource simplified permitting at the local level.
Presidio Tunnel Tops Park, San Francisco

A New Regional Approach to Shoreline Resilience

News /
Bay Area jurisdictions on the shoreline are now required to develop sea level rise adaptation plans as part of a regionally coordinated approach managed by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. SPUR participated in an advisory group for the commission’s soon-to-be-adopted Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan. With the passage of California Proposition 4, local sea level rise planning efforts could soon benefit from bond funding.

Joint Statement to BCDC Urging Support for Robust Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan

Advocacy Letter
In 2023, California adopted SB 272, which requires Bay Area jurisdictions on the shoreline to develop sea level rise adaptation plans as part of a regionally coordinated approach managed by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). To launch this effort, BCDC spent the passed year working with regional stakeholders to develop the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP). The RSAP was recently opened for public comment and many local stakeholders submitted comment letters to guide the future of this document. SPUR signed this Joint Statement in partnership with dozens of environmental, climate action, and environmental justice advocates and community-based organizations to ask BCDC to uphold its leadership in this effort by maintaining the integrity of the RSAP, resisting efforts to weaken its Standards, and addressing the remaining gaps described above and detailed at greater length in previous letters during the public comment period.
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