Climate Mitigation and Adaptation News

November 17, 2022

Sacramento Region Awarded $5 Million for Inclusive

After a months-long application process, led by Valley Vision, the Sacramento Region scored a significant win late last month via an award of $5 million dollars in planning money from the Community Economic Resilience Fund (“CERF”) program. The program advances regional economic recovery and resilience strategies that prioritize the creation of accessible, high-quality jobs in sustainable industries.

More information on CERF is in this Valley Vision press release.

Building Decarbonization Working Group

The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative regularly facilitates a number of working groups that are open to the public!

In August CRCRC relaunched its Building Decarbonization Working Group - previously the Building Electrification Working Group. Each of these sessions, occurring monthly, feature a guest speaker with expertise in one area of building decarbonization followed by designated time for participants to coordinate and collaborate with members of other organizations.

If you are interested in joining this working group please complete this interest form.

Does your organization have updates you would like to share with the rest of the CRCRC? Share them through this newsletter!

If you or anyone at your organization has updates you would like to have promoted through this newsletter, utilize this form to submit them to be included in this newsletter! This can include any updates, upcoming projects, or opportunities for collaboration that you would like to share with the broader CRCRC network!

Climate Action and the Inflation Reduction Act: A Guide for Local Government Leaders

This guidebook is intended to help mayors and their staff to understand the climate provisions included in the IRA, the opportunities for local government, and the multiple roles that mayors can play in maximizing the benefits of the law, while actively minimizing the real and potential harms posed to frontline communities exposed to fossil fuel infrastructure and development. It builds on How states and cities can benefit from climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act, published in August 2022.

This full guide can be found here.

Webinar Recordings: Reach Codes Newcomers

This webinar series, hosted through the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) took place from January to September of 2022 and provided an overview of the basics of reach code development and implementation.

All recordings of this series are available here. 

This Platform Makes Sure Companies Stick to Their

Climate Pledges

Wired

Big companies employ a wealth of tricks to keep their climate pledges on track. They use vague and misleading wording to improve their image without actually making any real changes. Sometimes, these “greenwashing” tactics happen by accident. “I don’t think all greenwashing is intended,” says Lubomila Jordanova, the founder and CEO of Berlin-based carbon reporting firm Plan A. But she quickly learned that even companies that wanted to tackle climate change, and specifically their own greenhouse gas emissions, weren’t always going about it the right way. Read this full story here.

California Releases Final Proposal for World-leading Climate Action Plan that Drastically Reduces Fossil Fuel Dependence, Slashes Pollution

California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board this week laid out the policies and actions California proposes to take to drastically reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and get to carbon neutrality by 2045 or earlier, following Governor Newsom’s call for more aggressive climate measures. The update to the scoping plan is unprecedented in scale and scope, representing the most aggressive approach to reach carbon neutrality by any jurisdiction in the world. Read this full report here.

Budget Whiplash: California Faces $25 Billion Deficit

CalMatters

$25 billion is the estimated deficit Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers will confront when crafting a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal advisor announced Wednesday. Read more about this developing news here.

Assessing the U.S. Climate in October 2022

NOAA

This report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contains key climate updates from across the nation including precipitation rates, updates from the U.S. Drought Monitor, average temperature increases, and levels of key bodies of water such as the Mississippi, and more. Read this report in full detail here.

Every Election is a Climate Election. The Midterms Were

No Exception

Los Angeles Times

Democrats finally passed sweeping climate legislation, with key legislators throwing their support behind the Inflation Reduction Act and President Biden signing the bill in August. But despite that vote coming less than three months before the midterm elections, climate change did not play a significant role in most congressional campaigns. Across the country, just 15% of ads mentioned energy or the environment in September, rising slightly to 18% in October, according to a Wesleyan Media Project analysis. That lack of climate focus is almost certainly a sign that aggressive steps to tackle global warming aren’t as controversial as they used to be. Read this full article here.

Inside Lawmakers’ Climate Trips to Egypt, Japan

CalMatters

Get ready for another raft of ambitious climate bills when California lawmakers return to Sacramento next month. A few days after the Nov. 8 election, bipartisan groups of more than a dozen state legislators — including some who have hit term limits and won’t be returning to the Legislature — embarked on international trips with a heavy climate focus. One delegation headed to Egypt for the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and another went to Japan to study its climate and affordable housing policies. Read this article here.

Analysis: In Final Week of COP27 Climate Talks, Success Hinges on 'Loss and Damage'

Reuters

This year's COP27 climate summit in Egypt headed into its final week on Monday with nearly 200 countries racing to strike a deal to steer the world towards cutting planet-warming emissions and scale up finance for countries being ravaged by climate impacts. Some negotiators and observers warn that failure to agree on such "loss and damage" funding could sour the U.N. talks and thwart other deals. The issue has leapt to the top of political priorities at COP27 after more than 130 developing counties successfully demanded it was added to the agenda for the first time. Read this full article here.

DWR Awards $5 Million for Delta Communities to Improve Flood Emergency Response

California Department of Water Resources

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced awarding $5 million in funding for seven emergency response agencies within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to increase their ability to respond to flood emergencies. This funding will help to improve the emergency response efforts for first responders and help these communities prepare for threats of flooding in the Delta, which is increasingly vulnerable to flooding from storm events and sea level rise. Read this full press release here.

Despite Drought, Rising Costs, Sacramento Officials Emphasize the Importance Flood Insurance

KCRA

As Northern California prepares for the possibility of a fourth dry year in a row, the potential for flood damage may seem distant, but the city of Sacramento Department of Utilities spokesperson Carlos Eliason says that doesn't mean the threat is non-existent. Weather and climate forecasters agree: climate change is projected to increase the duration and intensity of future droughts in the Western U.S. but it is also expected to accelerate Earth's natural water cycle. That means when rain does come, it may be heavier and more extreme than what we've experienced in the past. Read this full article here.

Rural Ranchers Face $4,000 Proposed Fine for Violating State Drought Order

CalMatters

The penalty is the maximum the ranchers — who pumped Shasta River water for eight days — could face under state law. It amounts to about $50 per rancher, which is no deterrent, ranchers and officials agree. Read the full article here.

California Was in Exceptional Drought a Year Ago. After Recent Rains, Where Are We Now?

San Fransisco Chronicle

California’s drought situation is looking better compared to the same time last year. In November 2021, more than 80% of California was in extreme or worse drought, compared with about 43% this year, U.S. Drought Monitor data shows. The data is updated weekly and shows drought conditions across the country. Aside from the San Joaquin Valley, exceptional drought conditions have been stomped out across the majority of the state. This means East Bay and North Bay cities such as Oakland, Napa and Walnut Creek are finally out of this most severe drought designation. Read this article here.

Biden-Harris Administration Launches Interactive Map Showcasing Wildfire Reduction Projects

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has launched a new interactive map showing the progress the agency and its partners have made in addressing the wildfire crisis in eight western states as part of the Forest Service’s 10-year wildfire crisis strategy. This easy-to-use “story map” gives users the opportunity to see the impact of the historic investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law across 10 initial landscapes (PDF, 9 MB) in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. Read this full article here.

Did this Week’s Big Storm Help with California drought? What about Wildfire Season?

The Sacramento Bee

Widespread rain and snow this week should serve to keep fire fuels damp for at least the next couple of weeks. Cool and wet weather “has significantly mitigated flammable fuel alignments across the region,” the National Interagency Fire Center wrote Thursday in a seven-day outlook report for Northern California, “therefore little to no significant fire risk exists.” Entering November, the 2022 wildfire season has shaped up to be far less severe than in recent years, the Mosquito Fire in the foothills and a pair of deadly blazes in Siskiyou County notwithstanding, Cal Fire numbers show. Read this full article here.