Welcome to the State of California

 

Climate Change

Climate Change Planning Program

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have already contributed to an increase in average global temperature. One impact of higher global temperatures is accelerated sea level rise. Historic records show that sea level in San Francisco Bay has risen nearly eight inches in the past century. The California Climate Action Team projects that sea level will rise between 20 and 55 inches (0.5 and 1.4 meters) by the year 2100.

In response to climate change and the challenges that it will present to the Bay Area, BCDC developed a Climate Change Planning Program to focus on developing strategies to reduce the region’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

The goals of BCDC’s Climate Change Planning Program are to:

  1. identify and report on the impacts of climate change on San Francisco Bay;
  2. identify strategies for adapting to climate change;
  3. develop a regional task force to inform and coordinate local governments, stakeholders, and land use planning bodies in the Bay area regarding the potential Bay-related impacts of and approaches for adapting to global climate change;
  4. identify the findings and policies in the San Francisco Bay Plan pertaining to climate change, such as the findings and policies on sea level rise, and update other relevant Bay Plan policies to incorporate new information about the impacts of climate change.

Currently, BCDC is advancing the above goals with the following projects

Draft Staff Report. Living With A Rising Bay: Vulnerability And Adaptation In San Francisco Bay And On the Shoreline. April 7, 2009 cover

 

BCDC has developed draft findings and policies on climate change and a background report that reflects the current state of knowledge regarding the potential impacts of climate change on the region. The background report, Draft Staff Report. Living With A Rising Bay: Vulnerability And Adaptation In San Francisco Bay And On the Shoreline. April 7, 2009, identifies vulnerabilities in the Bay Area’s economic and environmental systems, as well as the potential impacts of climate change on public health and safety.

 

 

In 2006 BCDC released a series of maps depicting the lands most vulnerable to sea level rise. To improve the accuracy and precision of the maps, using funding provided by the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research Program the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) developed new sea level rise data. BCDC used the data to produce a new series of sea level rise maps showing areas vulnerable to 16 inches of sea level rise at mid-century and 55 inches at the end of the century.

San Francisco Bay scenarios for sea level rise

Bay Area Regional Map 16 || 55 || 16 & 55

 

For more information about the data used to produce maps and the sea level rise scenarios see BCDC’s draft background report, Living with a Rishing Bay: Vulnerability and Adaptation in San Francisco Bay and on the Shoreline. April 7, 2009.

Rising tides competition
BCDC is hosting an open international design competition for ideas responding to sea level rise in San Francisco Bay and beyond.

Reports and Links

Forums

Contact

Steve Goldbeck
steveg@bcdc.ca.gov
415.352.3611