San Francisco, CA – Mayor Edwin M. Lee today joined 12 other U.S. mayors in hosting deleted climate change information and research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website after the Trump administration unceremoniously removed it from the federal government’s websites.

“Deleting federal webpages does not reset the scientific consensus that climate change is real,” said Mayor Lee. “The American people are entitled to the publically-funded EPA research on climate change. And while the federal government continues to undermine the progress we’ve made on climate change, cities are taking a stand. San Francisco will continue our fight against climate change by taking aggressive local actions to protect our citizens and planet.”

After the creation of the City of Chicago “Climate Change is Real” website, Mayor Lee joined other mayors in posting the climate change information, ensuring the public has ready access to information the EPA developed over decades of research. The mayors and cities posting information include:

Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, Georgia
Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston, Massachusetts
Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, Illinois
Mayor Steve Hagerty of Evanston, Illinois
Mayor Lioneld Jordan of Fayetteville, Arkansas
Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston, Texas
Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, Louisiana
Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland, Oregon
Mayor Ed Murray of Seattle, Washington
Mayor Lyda Krewson of St. Louis, Missouri

The San Francisco Department of Technology has uploaded this information to the city’s Open Gov website. It includes information on the basic science behind climate change, the different ways in which weather is impacted from increased greenhouse gas emissions, and actions the federal government has taken to reduce the impact. This information is also available for other cities, academic institutions, and organizations to post it to their own websites at https://chicago.github.io/climatechangeisreal/.

“Our website for the City and County of San Francisco is intended to connect the public to important services and information,” said Naomi Kelly, City Administrator. “We’re proud to have collaborated with IT and sustainability professionals across the nation to preserve this important EPA climate information for academics and the general public to further our collective efforts on global climate change.”

Last week, Mayor Lee joined over 270 mayors from around the country to commit to the Paris Agreement as part of the Mayors National Climate Agenda, or Climate Mayors. This network of U.S. mayors — representing over 56 million Americans in red states and blue states — work together to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting efforts for binding federal and global-level policy making.

Mayor Lee also joined over 1,200 state, local, and business leaders from across the country, representing 120 million Americans and $6.2 trillion of the U.S. economy as part of the “We’re Still In” campaign, coming together to signal the importance of the Paris Accord.

San Francisco is proof that strong climate change actions are good for our residents, cities and business. San Francisco exceeded its greenhouse gas emission reduction goal two years ahead of schedule, achieving a 28 percent reduction from 1990 levels. In 2008, San Francisco set an ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2017.

The new emissions reductions come at a time when San Francisco’s population and economic activity continue to rise. Since 1990, the city’s population has increased by 19 percent and GDP has increased by 78 percent pointing to the success of the City’s comprehensive Climate Action Strategy to curb emissions through innovative public policies, economic incentives, education and outreach, and cross-sector partnerships.

In April, Mayor Lee announced a bold new goal to have a 50 percent renewable electricity supply by 2020, and 100 percent by 2030. San Francisco’s goal is among the most ambitious targets of any major city in the U.S. and will surpass California’s previous 50 percent renewable target by ten years.

In December, Mayor Lee also introduced legislation updating the San Francisco Environment Code with new green building standards for all new municipal construction projects. The legislation came on the heels of San Francisco being named by CBRE Group, Inc. as the top market for Green Building in 2016 and reaching 7 million square feet of City-owned and operated Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certified properties -- an increase from 4 million square feet in 2014.

The City’s municipal real estate portfolio, which is comprised of properties such as San Francisco International Airport, Laguna Honda Hospital, and City Hall, now includes 50 certified projects that meet LEED’s rigorous sustainability standards for energy efficiency, green design and resource conservation.

These ambitious renewable energy goals support the City’s larger sustainability vision, referred to as “0-50-100-Roots.” This is the City’s roadmap to achieve zero waste to the landfill, reach 50 percent sustainable travel, use 100 percent renewable energy and pull carbon dioxide out of the air. Our city goal is aligned with the Kyoto Protocol and is to achieve an 80 percent reduction by 2050, 40 percent by 2025. This plan surpasses the Paris Agreement in terms of emission reduction.

Below is a listing of all URLs created using the open source website and the EPA Climate Change information:

City of Atlanta, Georgia http://www.atlantaga.gov/index.aspx?page=18

City of Boston, Massachusetts climatechangedata.boston.gov

City of Chicago, Illinois http://climatechange.cityofchicago.org/

City of Evanston, Illinois cityofevanston.org/climatechangeisreal

City of Fayetteville, Arkansas http://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/3281/Climate-Change

City of Houston, Texas http://www.greenhoustontx.gov/climate-change-is-real.html

City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin milwaukee.gov/ClimateChangeIsReal

City of New Orleans, Louisiana http://climatechange.nola.gov/

City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania http://beta.phila.gov/climatechangeisreal

City of Portland, Oregon http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/climatechangeisreal

City of Seattle, Washington seattle.gov/climatechangeisreal

City of St. Louis, Missouri https://climatechange.stlouis-mo.gov/