In Italy, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced the city will leapfrog its efforts to protect the climate from harmful effects of diesel emissions by phasing out the use of petroleum diesel in the municipal fleet and replacing it with renewable diesel by the end of this year.
Lee 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’.
Switching to renewable diesel will dramatically accelerate the progress San Francisco has made in cleaning its diesel fleet, slashing greenhouse gas emissions from diesel vehicles by more than 60 percent. Using renewable diesel also reduces the emissions of soot and other air quality pollutants that harm the health of local residents, and which disproportionately hurt San Francisco’s low-income communities because so much of the heavy duty vehicle traffic occurs in and near those communities.
