Hundreds of climate activists filled the steps of San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday to rally against possible funding cuts to the city’s Environment Department.
“When climate justice is under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!” shouted activists.
The Environment Department helps formulate and oversee climate goals for the city that promote sustainability, clean energy, and the reduction of pollutants.
For fiscal year 2026 to 2027, Mayor Daniel Lurie has proposed budget cuts to the department that could eliminate positions and several initiatives related to implementing and keeping track of the city’s climate and sustainability goals.
“We’re being told that many of us are at risk of losing our jobs,” said Nicole Appenzeller, who works as the department’s electric vehicle ombudsperson. “You cannot cut climate staff and reach your climate goals. You cannot slash the workforce and call yourself a climate leader without us.”
Lurie’s current budget proposal allocates about $545,000 from the city’s General Fund to the department, a nearly 80% reduction compared to fiscal year 2022 to 2023, when the budget included nearly $3 million from the General Fund.
According to SF Environment Director Tyrone Jue, the proposed cuts would force the department to eliminate eight staffing positions that work on the city’s Climate Action Plan, a framework that outlines and monitor’s the city’s work toward reducing pollutants and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
The funding cut would also eliminate the department’s Climate Equity Hub, a program that allows low-income residents to transition from gas to electric home appliances for free.
“If we don’t fund this work, we are defunding our future,” Appenzeller said. “We are here to fight for our jobs, but we are also here to fight for clean air, for climate action and for a livable city.”
The crowd of environmental advocates and labor union leaders held up signs and gave speeches, with supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Jackie Fielder joining the rally to show their support.
“Our city has collectively set a Climate Action Plan to ensure our communities are not only climate resilient, but also proactive in protecting our planet’s health, safety and ultimately, our ability to thrive,” Fielder said in a speech. “But now we’re at risk of losing this hard-won progress.”
If we don’t fund this work, we are defunding our future.
Nicole Appenzeller, electric vehicle ombudsperson
The rally was held just before a Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting, where a hearing on the proposed budget allocations for the Environment Department was held.
Mandelman called for the hearing to learn more about how the proposed cuts would impact the department’s work and how it has been funded historically.
“The advocates are unhappy and I’m really concerned,” Mandelman said at the meeting.
Jue explained that funding the department has always been a challenge, and a main source of funding has come from grants.
“When the department was first conceived in ‘95 and then actually instituted in ‘96, there wasn’t a clear funding mechanism to fund the department, so folks got creative,” he said.
Additionally, the infusion of money to the department in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 was the first-ever major allocation from the city’s General Fund and was primarily done to expand the Climate Action Plan and introduce the Climate Equity Hub.
“Historically, this department has had to eat what it kills,” Mandelman said. “It hasn’t been a General Fund priority for the city until rather recently.”
But with outside funding sources dwindling for the department and grants stalling under the current federal administration, the department is asking to be prioritized in the Lurie’s budget proposals.
“If there’s not a direct problem, unlike what’s in front of you today, you tend not to prioritize,” Jue said. “Now there’s a direct problem that we cannot solve for that we have been able to solve for in the past.”
Despite budget constraints faced by Lurie, Mandelman thinks that his proposal for the Environment Department will demonstrate the extent of his commitment to environmental justice and decarbonization.
“This is the year in which they’re going to have to make a decision about what they think about this and whether they believe that the environment should be a General Fund priority,” Mandelman said.
Sophia Kittler, the mayor’s budget director, said that the hearing will help inform the proposal for the department.
“I would really appreciate your leadership and the leadership of the advocates to kind of bring this forward,” she said to Mandelman. “I think all of these conversations that we can have sooner really shed light on how to think about those priorities and shape the budget before it gets before you in June.”