Climate Mitigation and Adaptation News

October 20, 2022

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.

Affordable Housing R7 Draft Guidelines Workshop - Northern

The Strategic Growth Council is hosting a series of public workshops to share information and solicit input on the The Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program, and discuss Round 7 Guidelines with stakeholders. The AHSC Program has already awarded more than $2.4 billion in funding for affordable housing, transit, bicycling, and walking investments across the State of California – and will be announcing an estimated $750 million in available funding in the coming months. This workshop will include an AHSC 101 presentation, along with discussion on some of the changes found in Round 7 Guidelines. Draft Round 7 Guidelines, along with a Summary of Key Changes, and Change Log are now available at the AHSC Guidelines webpage.

Register for this event here. 

Stakeholder Forum for Sacramento Regional Water Bank

The Regional Water Authority (RWA) is launching a public engagement process for the Sacramento Regional Water Bank, an innovative groundwater storage program utilizing the expansive reservoir under the urban core for storing water during wet times for use during dry times.

This practice has been in place in the Sacramento Region since the 1990’s and has resulted in the region's groundwater levels increasing, in contrast to the common narrative around groundwater in California. This success has been achieved while operating at about half of the existing capability and there is great potential to expand the ability to operate this way. RWA is kicking off a stakeholder engagement process where it hopes to get feedback on the design of operations that will allow for the expansion of this successful practice while producing the greatest benefits to underserved communities and the environment.

The first Stakeholder Forum will take place on Wednesday, October 26th, 2022 from 6:00 - 8:00pm. You can register for this event here. 

Housing as a Climate Strategy

In the face of converging climate and housing crises, we have the opportunity to pursue strategies that achieve housing and climate goals simultaneously. Building housing-rich, walkable neighborhoods in transportation-efficient areas is a climate smart solution. It can help reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emissions, support sustainable land use, and preserve open space for wildlife and agriculture.

This CivicWell-hosted event will feature a conversation with Howard Penn, Executive Director of the Planning and Conservation League, on smart planning for reducing VMT in rural areas and protecting habitat. Gabriel Quinto, Mayor of El Cerrito, will discuss a current transit-oriented development project converting parking lots to housing in alignment with the City’s Affordable Housing Strategy and Climate Action Plan.

Register for this event here. 

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!

Equitable Home Electrification Toolkit

This toolkit is intended to help communities across the United States take meaningful steps toward equitably electrifying their existing housing stock through a planning process designed to maximize engagement and co-ownership between local governments and frontline community groups. The content was developed jointly by RMI and Emerald Cities Collaborative for the 2021–2022 Equitable Home Electrification Program, a community of practice between 10 teams representing local governments and community organizations:

More information on the toolkit is available here.

Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation (ARCCA) State Funding Tracker

This tracker has been developed to provide ARCCA staff's best estimation of program development and grant-making timelines for new climate resilience grant programs as a resource for California’s climate resilience practitioners. While this tracker has been informed by direct engagement with program staff, please note that all content included here is subject to change and, unless otherwise stated, only reflects ARCCA staff estimates. All users are encouraged to visit agency websites to view official timelines.

The full tracker is available here. 

Commissioner Lara Enforces Nation’s First Wildfire Safety Regulation to Help Drive Down Cost of Insurance

California Department of Insurance

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will enforce the new insurance pricing regulation he wrote recognizing and rewarding wildfire safety and mitigation efforts made by homeowners and businesses. Commissioner Lara’s regulation is the first in the nation requiring insurance companies to provide discounts to consumers under the Safer from Wildfires framework created by the California Department of Insurance in partnership with state emergency preparedness agencies. "Protecting Californians from deadly wildfires means everyone doing their part, including insurance companies by rewarding consumers for being safer from wildfires," said Commissioner Lara. Read this full press release here.

California Faces a Housing/Wildfire Conundrum

CalMatters

California must ramp up housing construction to reduce the ever-widening gap between supply and demand and ease the high shelter costs that drive families into poverty and contribute to the state’s homelessness crisis. However, given the seemingly nonstop series of uber-destructive wildfires California is experiencing, prudence dictates that we should also avoid housing construction in what’s called the “wildland urban interface” where fires are most likely to have cataclysmic impacts. Read this full article here.

New Water Year Begins Amid Preparations for

Continued Drought

California Department of Water Resources

Conserving water has become a way of life in California, especially as projections forecast warmer, drier conditions. The State’s new water year has begun and with it comes fresh concerns about a fourth year of extreme drought for the state. Read this full article here.

California Braces for Dry Winter as Western Drought Drags On

ABC News

The past three years have been California's driest on record and state officials said earlier this month that they're preparing for the streak to continue. The official water year concluded September 30th, marking an end to a period that saw both record rainfall in October and the driest January-to-March period in at least a century. Scientists say such weather whiplash is likely to become more common as the planet warms. It will take more than a few winter storms to help the state dig out of drought. Read this full article here.

California Charts Course for Whole-of-Government Action on Extreme Heat At First-Ever Symposium

Sierra Sun Times

Following the West Coast’s record-setting heat wave last month, California hosted the first-ever Extreme Heat Symposium in Sacramento on Tuesday. The symposium, put on by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the California Natural Resources Agency, harnessed the collective power of community leaders, state policymakers, scientists, and members of the public, and set the stage for extreme heat action in California in the coming years. Read the full article here. 

California Struggles to Count Heat Wave Injuries and Deaths 

Knews Media

It was the worst California heat wave ever recorded in September — an epic grilling that disabled one of Twitter’s main data centers, pushed the power grid to its limit and triggered a succession of weather and safety alerts. For 10 grueling days, meteorologists tracked record-setting temperatures as they boiled across the state — 116 degrees in Sacramento, 114 in Napa, 109 in Long Beach. But for all the data on soaring temperatures, there was little information on the heat wave’s human toll, or how many people had been sickened or even killed. Read the full report here.

A Sacramento Voter Guide for the November 2022 Election

CapRadio

This guide contains everything that you need to know to register to vote in the upcoming election. Learn about the candidates and cast your ballot before the Nov. 8 midterm election. Read the full guide here.

Letter: Davis Youth Strike to Protest Lack of Climate Emergency Planning by City 

The Davis Vanguard

Youth leaders from Yolo County led a colorful all-ages march late last month in central Davis to protest the city’s failure to address the climate emergency. The marchers made their way through the city visiting Central Park and city hall mirroring thousands of actions across the world on September 23 organized by the #FridaysforFuture movement. Read this full article here.

This Program is Blazing a Trail for Women in

Wildland Firefighting

The 19th

On a sunny morning in early August, a group of seven women dressed in hard hats and yellow long-sleeve shirts marched single file, carrying chainsaws, axes, and other hand tools toward a thicket of pine trees. In the background loomed Yosemite National Park’s characteristic granite monoliths. When they arrived, their supervisors gave them their assignment for the day: building burn piles on the floor of Yosemite Valley. Read the full article here.

RECAP: Gas Price Relief + Illegal Cannabis Enforcement + Internet for All + Housing + School Buses = Big Week Delivering for Californians

The Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

From delivering relief on rising costs, including high gas prices, to cleaning up California’s school buses to breaking ground on a statewide 10,000-mile broadband network, the Newsom Administration was hard at work last week taking action for Californians across a variety of issues. Read the full brief here. 

New Tool Helps to “Green” Events

UNFCCC

From pizza night to a wedding to a corporate event or even the Olympic Games, the new Green Events Tool (GET) can improve the sustainability of these gatherings. Launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow last year, the online tool is a user-friendly, end-to-end solution that can be used to lower greenhouse gas emissions and help reach reduction targets. GET is the outcome of close collaboration between the Gulf Organization for Research & Development (GORD), UN Environment (UNEP) and UN Climate Change (UNFCCC). Read more about this tool here.

Readout of the Fifth Greening Government Initiative Meeting

The White House

Last month representatives of 60 countries across five continents met for the fifth meeting of the Greening Government Initiative (GGI)—a first-of-its-kind initiative that enables countries to exchange information, promote innovation and share best practices to support global efforts to green national government operations and meet Paris Agreement commitments on climate change. GGI champions the catalytic role of national governments towards countries’ overall achievement of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Read this full brief here.