In 2010 the City of San Rafael became the first participant in the sustainability recognition program known as the Beacon Award: Local Leadership Toward Solving Climate Change. Three years later San Rafael won the first Beacon Award. The League recognized San Rafael’s silver-level accomplishments at the 2013 League of California Cities Annual Conference & Expo. The city’s achievements included:

• Agency greenhouse gas reductions of 19.2 percent (2005 to 2010);
• Community greenhouse gas reductions of 8.1 percent (2005 to 2010);
• Agency electricity savings of 5 percent;
• Outstanding efforts to promote energy efficiency in the community; and
• Participation in 35 activities in the Institute for Local Government’s 10 Sustainability Best Practice Areas.

Read the full article for more details on how and why San Rafael won the Beacon Award.