Fer's Story: The Weight of Compounding Crises
Fer represents many working San Antonians whose finances are stable but tightly balanced. He pays his mortgage, covers the family expenses, and provides well for his daughter, Antonia. But with rising everyday costs, there is little opportunity for savings and for emergencies. His stability started to fall apart after a normal setback – his car broke down on his way to work. The cost of the repair wiped out his savings and forced him to rely on public transit during a stretch of 105-degree summer heat.
What had once been a 30-minute air-conditioned commute became a two-hour trip with long walks and waits on unshaded pavement. Within days, the added heat exposure and exhaustion began affecting both Fer and Antonia: her school performance suffered, and severe heat exhaustion caused Fer to miss critical days of work. In less than a month, one common setback—compounded by extreme heat and limited climate-ready transportation—threatened the family’s health, education, and financial security.
Why San Antonio Needs a Climate Resilience Plan
Fer’s experience shows how climate change can disrupt everyday life, not just during catastrophic events or for the most vulnerable residents. When extreme heat collides with limited shade and inflexible transportation, a common setback can quickly become a threat to a family’s health, education, and financial stability.
The San Antonio Climate Ready Plan helps prevent those compounding impacts by recognizing that environmental, economic, and infrastructure systems are interconnected. As San Antonio faces a hotter, drier future with risks such as water shortages, higher energy costs, and wildfires, the plan identifies vulnerabilities and targeted investments to strengthen resilience. By treating climate adaptation as a matter of public health and economic survival, cities can transform systemic vulnerabilities into shared, lasting security.
The original SACR was adopted in 2019. In 2026, the plan is undergoing a Plan Update.
The SA Climate Ready Plan: Then & Now
Since the adoption of the SACR in 2019, our City has established a strong foundation for climate mitigation through efforts such as heat resilience projects, implementation of community cooling strategies, expanding the tree canopy, expanding the network of places to stay cool, and investing in municipal solar and energy efficiency projects. However, its the continuous responsibility of the City to ensure strategies proposed in 2019 will continue to safeguard our City today and in the future against the accelerating pace of extreme climate impacts. For this reason, the City, alongside residents and area partners, is currently working to update the plan, referred to as the SA Climate Ready 2035 Plan.
This update requires that we continue to acknowledge our existing vulnerabilities and identify high-impact opportunities for improving our resilience. Without a plan, a city leaves its residents to absorb the full shock of climate stress alone, dragging stable households into economic vulnerability. By treating climate adaptation as a matter of public health and economic survival, cities can transform systemic vulnerabilities into shared, lasting security.
On the impact of SA Climate Ready in the community:
SACR Timeline: 2015-2026
The major milestones of the SA Climate Ready Plan process, from initial research and goals to development, adoption of the original plan, and the current 2026 update.