RES 231365 - Laserfiche WebLink

City of Pleasanton CEQA GHG Emissions Thresholds and Guidance lead agency should briefly explain how compliance with the threshold means that the project's impacts are less than significant. Compliance with the threshold does not relieve a lead agency of the obligation to consider substantial evidence indicating that the project's environmental effects may still be significant.15 CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.4 (a) The determination of the significance of GHG emissions calls for a careful judgment by the lead agency consistent with the provisions in section 15064. A lead agency shall make a good-faith effort, based to the extent possible on scientific and factual data,to describe, calculate or estimate the amount of GHG emissions resulting from a project. A lead agency shall have discretion to determine, in the context of a particular project,whether to (1) Quantify GHG emissions resulting from a project; and/or (2) Rely on a qualitative analysis or performance-based standards. (b) In determining the significance of a project's GHG emissions,the lead agency should focus its analysis on the reasonably foreseeable incremental contribution of the project's emissions to the effects of climate change. A project's incremental contribution may be cumulatively considerable even if it appears relatively small compared to Statewide, national or global emissions.The agency's analysis should consider a timeframe that is appropriate for the project.The agency's analysis also must reasonably reflect evolving scientific knowledge and State regulatory schemes. A lead agency should consider the following factors,among others,when determining the significance of impacts from GHG emissions on the environment: (1) The extent to which the project may increase or reduce GHG emissions as compared to the existing environmental setting. (2) Whether the project emissions exceed a threshold of significance that the lead agency determines applies to the project. (3) The extent to which the project complies with regulations or requirements adopted to implement a Statewide, regional, or local plan for the reduction or mitigation of GHG emissions (see, e.g.,section 15183.5[b]).Such requirements must be adopted by the relevant public agency through a public review process and must reduce or mitigate the project's incremental contribution of GHG emissions. If there is substantial evidence that the possible effects of a particular project are still cumulatively considerable notwithstanding compliance with the adopted regulations or requirements, an EIR must be prepared for the project. In determining the significance of impacts,the lead agency may consider a project's consistency with the State's long-term climate goals or strategies, provided that substantial evidence supports the agency's analysis of how those goals or strategies address the project's incremental contribution to climate change and its conclusion that the project's incremental contribution is not cumulatively considerable. (c) A lead agency may use a model or methodology to estimate GHG emissions resulting from a project.The lead agency has discretion to select the model or methodology it considers most appropriate to enable decision makers to intelligently take into account the project's incremental contribution to climate change.The lead agency must support its selection of a 15 2022 CEQA Guidelines. 14