Climate Mitigation and Adaptation News

May 29th, 2024

2024 State of the Air Report

Read about the annual American Lung Association report released last week, which found that despite continued progress, Sacramento again ranked as one of America's most polluted regions for both particle pollution and ozone. This full report is available here. 

CCEC Climate Mitigation & Energy Legislative Tracker

This legislative tracker includes bills related to climate mitigation and energy. These bills are being tracked by the California Climate & Energy Collaborative (CCEC) as a resource for its members and climate professionals in California. Please note that descriptions are pulled directly from the bill text in the Legislative Counsel’s Digest without any analysis, and some descriptions only include a portion of the summary. If you are interested in a particular bill, we encourage you to follow the link in the bill number to read the full text. The full tracker is available here. 

ARCCA Climate Adaptation Legislative Tracker

This tracker includes bills related to climate adaptation. These bills are being tracked by the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation (ARCCA) as a resource to its members and adaptation professionals in California. Please note that descriptions are pulled directly from the bill text in the Legislative Counsel’s Digest without any analysis, and some descriptions only include a portion of the summary. If you are interested in a particular bill, we encourage you to follow the link (bill number) to read the full text. The full tracker is available here. 

CCEDA 2024 Annual Policy & Funding Conference

June 3rd & 4th

The 2024 CCEDA Policy Conference centers our focus on increasing equity, and access to resources, in low-income communities and communities of color. The theme, Access and Equity for a New California: Empowering Low-Income Communities of Color, encourages attendees to consider how elected representatives, financial institutions, and CED organizations can use the tools and infrastructure of CED to accomplish this urgent goal. CDCs, CDFIs, and CAAs have served as effective tools to address the needs of low-income communities, especially those whose leadership reflects the communities they serve. More information on this event is available here.

What Makes a Great California Idea?

June 5th, 5:00 - 7:00PM

California has been Tomorrowland since long before Walt Disney opened the theme park version—and its greatest inventions have changed the world for the better. But its government often seems stuck in the past. And the Capitol’s dominant interests are more focused on maintaining their current power than investing in big, California-grown ideas—which appear to be more perilous than promising. Artificial intelligence defies regulation or control. Fighting climate change with big batteries, wind farms, and plant-based meat means mining for rare minerals, altering wild landscapes, and threatening the state’s agricultural and food processing industries. Social experiments seem equally risky: Despite their potential to alleviate long-standing inequalities, universal income and wealth-building programs, reparations, and criminal justice reforms are politically challenging and economically fraught. More information on this event is available here.

Energy Innovation Summit 2024

June 12th - 14th

The San Francisco Department of the Environment has joined hands with Energy Innovators Network, Immersive Arts Alliance, The Climate Center, Anthropocene Institute, and Swissnex to bring this 3-day event to life June 12 ·13 ·14 of this year in San Francisco. Our approach arises from a 2023 listening tour. What did this reveal? Pain points and impediments to our shift to clean energy are primarily regulatory and investment-related.

As a result, the Energy Innovation Summit brings together our investment community, innovative companies, and also policymakers, encouraging new alliances and solutions, responding to the urgency of clean energy adoption, dedicated to accelerating positive change. More information on this event is available here.

15th Annual California Climate & Energy Forum

June 25th & 26th

The 2024 CCEC Forum is available now! You can view the details on the 3 plenary sessions, 16 breakouts, and the numerous networking events, including breaks during the forum, meals, and a must-attend networking reception the first night of the forum.

These details will help you plan out your days at the forum, and ensure you obtain the most useful and timely information to take away.

You're going to want to return to this page often, as the program is still a work in progress, and we may update session details or add pre-forum activities to help us kick the event off in style. More information on registration for this event is available here.

California Climate Programs Would Lose Billions in

Newsom's Budget

Cal Matters

Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to support a bond measure to help pay for billions of dollars in climate programs endangered by the state’s record deficit and deepening budget cuts. The lobbying comes as an array of key climate programs — including efforts to combat rising seas and help low-income Californians buy electric cars — face significant cuts and delays as California seeks to close a $56 billion deficit over the next two fiscal years. Read this full article here.

On Governor Newsom unveils revised state budget, prioritizing balanced solutions for a leaner, more efficient government

Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

Governor Gavin Newsom today released a May Revision proposal for the 2024-25 fiscal year that ensures the budget is balanced over the next two fiscal years by tightening the state’s belt and stabilizing spending following the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic, all while preserving key ongoing investments. Under the Governor’s proposal, the state is projected to achieve a positive operating reserve balance not only in this budget year but also in the next. This “budget year, plus one” proposal is designed to bring longer-term stability to state finances without delay and create an operating surplus in the 2025-26 budget year. Read this full report here.

Decades Long Delta Tunnel Water Project May Finally Be Nearing a Historic Decision

Cal Matters

It’s been almost a half-century since I first heard the term “peripheral canal” uttered by William Gianelli, who was then-Gov. Ronald Reagan’s top water official. The project, in one form or another, had already been kicking around for decades. The California Water Project became operative in the 1960s and was the most prominent legacy project of Pat Brown, whom Reagan had defeated in 1966. The project dams the Feather River near Oroville and releases impounded water to flow down the Feather into the Sacramento River and eventually into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Pumps at the southern edge of the Delta suck the water into the California Aqueduct, which carries it down the San Joaquin Valley to more pumps over the Tehachapi Mountains into Southern California. Read this full briefing here.

Analysis: Benefits of the Delta Conveyance Project Far

California Department of Water Resources

Today, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) released a benefit-cost analysis for the Delta Conveyance Project that finds the infrastructure modernization project would create billions of dollars in benefits for California communities, including reliable water supplies, climate change adaptation, earthquake preparedness and improved water quality. For every $1 spent, $2.20 in benefits would be generated. The report also shows the very real cost of doing nothing, posing significant future challenges to supplying water to California communities. Read this full article here.

PG&E and California Fire Foundation Open Applications for Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Grants

PR Newswire

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California Fire Foundation (CFF) are accepting grant applications this week from California-based fire departments and community-based organizations focused on wildfire safety and preparedness. The grant program continues a seven-year successful partnership between PG&E and CFF. Applications will be accepted beginning May 30 and must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2024, through the CFF website. Award notification will begin July 31, 2024. Read this full article here.

How High is the Sacramento Valley's Wildfire Risk? See Your County on an Interactive Map

The Sacramento Bee

While California is no stranger to wildfires, areas around the Sacramento Valley region are more at risk than others.By using data collected in March 2023 and risk assessments, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has created a map that shows counties across the United States currently considered most at risk for wildfires. The agency looked at expected annual loss, which calculates the costs of natural disasters, as well as social vulnerability, which determines how humans will be affected by disasters. FEMA also explored community resilience — how well people prepare for natural disasters and how quickly communities bounce back following the event. Read more here. 

California Could See More Unhealthy Air Days Under New Metric to Measure Air Quality

CBS News

Some groundbreaking fire protection ideas are being unveiled in Sacramento this week at a wildland firefighting conference. Experts from across the country are talking about ways to help keep communities safe. Matt Rahn, with the nonprofit Wildfire Conservancy, said building codes need to be changed to make homes and neighborhoods less likely to burn. "The standards that we have are not keeping up with the risk and intensity and frequency of fires," Rahn said. Read this full article here.

Report Ranks Sacramento as One of the Most Polluted U.S. Cities. Here's Why:

KCRA

The American Lung Association recently released its 25th annual State of the Air Report. The report uses Environmental Protection Agency air quality data to highlight cities that may be at increased risk for serious health issues due to repeated exposure to ozone and particle pollution. Ozone is produced when emissions from vehicles and industrial sites react with heat and sunlight. Particle pollution comes from things like wildfire smoke. Both types of pollution can cause acute or chronic respiratory symptoms. Read more here. 

• AECOM, Sacramento - Multiple Positions
• Ascent - Multiple Positions
• Breathe California - Food Scraps & Recycling Program Manager
• California Environmental Justice Alliance - Co-Executive Director
• California ReLeaf - Finance & Administration Program Manager
• Community Resource Project - Multiple Positions
• Department of Water Resources - Multiple Positions
• Mutual Housing California - Multiple Positions
• Sacramento Tree Foundation - Multiple Positions
• Sierra Business Council - Multiple Positions
• Valley Vision - Multiple Positions

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The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative is a membership based collaborative network designed to promote greater climate change resilience planning coordination in the six-county Sacramento Region. The purpose of this collaborative network is to create a forum where leaders from government, academia, environmental and community groups, the business community, and labor can come together to exchange information, identify vulnerabilities and data gaps, leverage resources, and advance comprehensive solutions in an effort to create stronger, sustainable, and economically viable communities in the Capital Region.