San José Community Leads on Climate Change

Climate Smart San José (Climate Smart), adopted by the City Council in 2018 and updated in 2025, lays out how we are doing our part to address climate change.

Climate Smart is one of the first detailed city plans for reaching the targets of the international Paris Agreement. In November 2021, City Council set a goal of communitywide carbon neutrality by 2030, thereby accelerating Climate Smart, and approved the City's Pathway to Carbon Neutrality by 2030 in June 2022. This Carbon Neutrality one-page flyer provides a summary of the Pathway. To get there, the Pathway and Climate Smart 2025 update focused the City’s efforts on key strategies for energy, transportation, and buildings.

We’re grateful to our stakeholders and community partners who have supported Climate Smart San José and participated in its creation.

Earth Month Calendar

Stay Up-to-date

Do you want to stay up to date with Climate Smart programs and initiatives? Browse previous issues of our quarterly newsletter, San José Climate Chronicles, and complete the Climate Smart San José newsletter and email form to be added to our email notification list.

Climate Smart Update

You can also view the most recent Climate Smart Update:

• Fall 2025 Update (October 6, 2025, Transportation & Environment Committee meeting)
  • View the Fall 2025 Highlights in English/ Spanish/ Vietnamese
• Spring 2025 update (April 7, 2025 Transportation & Environment Committee meeting)
  • View the Spring 2025 Highlights in English/ Spanish/ Vietnamese 

Rebates and Incentives

Find out about local, regional, statewide, and federal incentives to help you electrify your home on the San José Clean Energy Electric Homes webpage and electrify your ride through the San José Clean Energy Electric Vehicles program.

How can you help?

Sign up for the Climate Smart Challenge! It’s a fun and easy way to track your carbon footprint, lower your bills and make a difference in your community.

Join the Climate Smart Stakeholders monthly meeting (virtual) to hear about the latest climate initiatives, share your insights, and ask questions. Email ClimateSmart@sanjoseca.gov to be added to the meeting invitation and receive meeting agendas and notes.

Request a presentation to learn more about Climate Smart. Please complete the Climate Smart Presentation Request Form to request a Climate Smart presentation for your community group, school, neighborhood association, or business.

Check out additional What You Can Do resources to help reduce your carbon footprint, whether you are a resident, business or civic agency.

Notable Achievements

• 2022: Largest U.S. city to remove minimum parking requirements for new developments
• 2022: One of the largest U.S. cities to adopt a carbon neutrality by 2030 goal
• 2019: Largest city to adopt a building reach code incentivizing all-electric new construction and then (2020) prohibiting natural gas infrastructure in all new construction with minimal exceptions
• 2018: Approved largest single jurisdiction community choice aggregation program (purchasing cleaner power for our community in the state 

Recognition

For our climate work, San José is proud to have received recognition from various organizations: 

• Ranked first as the greenest city in the U.S. according to WalletHub's 2025 ranking
• One of only 120 cities worldwide on the 2025 CDP A List
• Smart Energy Decision's Women in Smart Energy (WISE) awards (2025) to Climate Smart Division staff, Sarah Emerson for the Zero Emission Neighborhood (Project/Initiative category) and Jasmine Jain for engagement with disadvantaged communities on climate initiatives (Rising Star category)
• San José Mineta International Airport received Level 2 Airport Carbon Accreditation (2024)
• San José Clean Energy ranked sixth on the National Renewable Energy Lab’s Green Power Program (2024)
• Ranked 18 on 2024 ENERGY STAR Top Cities list with the most ENERGY STAR Certified Building
• Awarded all badges by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (2024)
• Ranked 9 out of 75 of the largest U.S. cities in the 2024 ACEEE City Clean Energy Scorecard
• The Climate Registry's Climate Leadership Award (2023) and Assemblymember Gail Pellerin's Women of the Year Award (for climate work; 2024) to Kerrie Romanow, San José Chief Sustainability Officer and Environmental Services Department Director
• Ranked fifth in the nation for solar power per person, and eighth in the nation for total solar capacity, in the 2022 Shining Cities Report 

Resources

• Climate Smart 2025 Update
• Climate Smart Data Dashboard
• Pathway to Carbon Neutrality by 2030 plan
• Carbon Neutral by 2030: Resolution 80284
• Zero Waste Element
• Natural and Working Lands Element

Archive

• Climate Smart Executive Summary (English version, Spanish version, and Vietnamese version)
• Climate Smart Full Plan (including technical appendix)
• Green Vision plan

contact us

If you have any questions or suggestions, please email ClimateSmart@SanJoseCA.gov.

The information and documents contained on this page include both current and past entries. In accordance with ADA Title II requirements mandating WCAG 2.1 AA compliance for state and local government digital content by April 24, 2026, materials dated prior to this deadline may not meet current accessibility standards. If you require an accessible version of any material, please contact us at ClimateSmart@SanJoseCA.gov.