California Air Resources Board & California Energy Commission

Through the Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, and Local (IDEAL) ZEV Workforce Pilot Project administered by the California Energy Commission and co-funded by CARB, Fresno City College has offered three high schools in Fresno County the opportunity to introduce their automotive students to ZEV technology.

California Department of Community Services and Development

The 40 Prado Road Homeless Services Center, a shelter located in San Luis Obispo, serves up to 100 occupants at a time. While it was built in 2018 under the 2013 Energy Code and met energy efficiency standards of the time, it was under the Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) that the shelter was able to become even more energy efficient, adding a 120-kilowatt solar system and other energy efficiency measures thanks to California Climate Investments funding.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Old-growth redwood forests store more above-ground carbon than any other forest type on Earth. Unfortunately, only 5 percent of old-growth redwood forests survived extensive colonial logging in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Now, thanks in part to California Climate Investments funding awarded through CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program, a partnership is working to establish the old-growth forests of the future on California’s northern coast.  

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

In the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s homelands, California Climate Investments funding is helping the Hoopa Valley Tribe re-introduce fire to an important oak woodland ecosystem. The work is supported by a $1.36 million grant from CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program.  The eastern side of the Hoopa Valley, on the current Hoopa Valley Reservation in what is known today as Humboldt County, has historically been home to extensive oak woodlands.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

In 2020, Sarah Light, agronomy advisor at the University of California Cooperative Extension, partnered with the Colusa County Resource Conservation District, Davis Ranch, Richter Ag, and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service to apply for a CDFA Healthy Soils Program Demonstration Grant. The team received $99,832 of grant funding to conduct a demonstration project on cover crops on two fields in the Sacramento Valley from fall 2020 to spring 2024.

California Air Resources Board

The Clean Truck and Bus Voucher project, also known as HVIP, has been a key facilitator in achieving California’s long-term strategy of transitioning its trucking fleet to zero-emission vehicles (ZEV). This transformation has been a multiyear process, starting with demonstration and pilot projects and moving to regulations combined with incentives.

California State Transportation Agency

In the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, a transformative project is underway to reshape public transportation in communities around Merced. Thanks to $3,112,000 in funding from the California State Transportation Agency's Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP)—half from California Climate Investments and half from SB 11 funds—the Transit Joint Powers for Merced County initiative addresses critical transit needs in disadvantaged communities.

California Air Resources Board

Since 2015, the City of Los Angeles (LA), in partnership with the LA Department of Transportation and the Mayor’s Office, has received a total of $4.7 million from CARB’s Clean Mobility Options program for a zero-emission car share pilot project. This project, known as BlueLA, is operating in 13 underserved communities that face significant air quality burdens and have historically been excluded from environmental benefits. BlueLA provides a clean and affordable mobility option in these communities, which include Downtown, Pico Union, West Lake, and Koreatown.  

California Strategic Growth Council

In October 2023, the City of San Francisco’s Balboa Park Neighborhood held a ribbon cutting for 131 new affordable homes adjacent to the Balboa Park Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station, known as Kapuso at the Upper Yard. These homes were built thanks to $29.9 million from SGC’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), in its fifth round of funding. The AHSC program funds the construction of affordable housing near transit as a key strategy to reduce GHG emissions by reducing vehicle miles traveled, and Kapuso at the Upper Yard is a key example of the need for this work.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s (CalRecycle) Community Composting for Green Spaces Grant Program is funding community composting at hundreds of sites across California. In the first cycle of funding, the grant program awarded $1.5 million to the People, Food, and Land Foundation, which supported community composting at 117 sites throughout California, planted 488 trees, created 4,418 cubic yards of compost, and reduced emissions by 2,508 MTCO2e of GHG emissions.

California Air Resources Board

In the heart of California, the San Joaquin Valley is a region where agriculture is not just an industry but a way of life for many. CARB’s Funding Agricultural Replacement Measures Emissions Reductions (FARMER) Program funds transformative initiatives that foster the adoption of innovative farming techniques, integrating advanced agricultural technologies, and promote community engagement and has been making monumental steps towards more sustainable agriculture across the valley. 

California State Transportation Agency

With funding from the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, the Humboldt Transit Authority will procure eleven fuel cell electric buses for use throughout the North Coast and build the northern-most hydrogen fueling station for public and bus use in California. This project will also create a new intercity transit service to connect local riders from Eureka to Ukiah and points south, including the San Francisco Bay Area, with fuel cell electric buses.

California Energy Commission

With a $75,976 grant, Full Belly Farm completed a new 61 kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic energy system that produces enough energy to reduce the farm’s total annual energy costs by 50 percent and two Level-2, 10 kW electric vehicle charging stations. The system reduces peak loads on the electrical grid and helps Full Belly Farms meet its goal of 100 percent renewable energy usage.

California Strategic Growth Council

With funding from the Climate Change Research Program, PSE Healthy Energy is working with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and Communities for a Better Environment to identify opportunities to build solar+storage resilience hubs at schools and community centers across California.

California Air Resources Board

With funding from the Community Air Grants Program, community-led project SJVAir is providing accurate air quality data and real time alerts to residents in disadvantaged communities located up to 30 miles away from the nearest regulatory PM 2.5 monitor.

California Air Resources Board

Thanks to funding from California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) FARMER program through California Climate Investments, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) is funding some of the first zero emission agricultural tractor demonstration projects in the state. BAAQMD and CARB recently awarded $1 million to manufacturers to produce seven zero emission tractors which are now in operation at The Mushroom Farm LLC, Old School Vineyards LP, Arroyo Lindo Vineyards, Crocker Estate, and Wente Vineyards. 

San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission

With support from California Climate Investments, the Adapting to Rising Tides (ART) program at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is providing research, guidance, tools, and staff support to help Bay Area agencies and organizations understand, communicate, and begin to resolve complex climate change issues.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

Thanks to $1,315,378 from the Recycled Fiber, Plastic and Glass Grant Program, Suay is expanding their operations diverting textiles from landfills. Suay is a closed-loop recycling operation in Los Angeles that collects used garments and cleans, repairs, and re-sews these textiles remaking them into new products. The finished products are repaired clothing and remade products, such as pillows and dog beds that use stuffing from shredded garments that could not be repaired.

California Air Resources Board

In 2019, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, in partnership with California Department of Transportation’s Division of Mass Transit, was selected by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to receive $7.4 million from the Community Air Protection program to help replace two diesel-powered locomotives with two new Siemens Charger Tier 4 locomotives. These locomotives are now operating on the Capitol Corridor line from Auburn-Sacramento to Silicon Valley and run through disadvantaged and low-income communities in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and more. The new locomotives achieve a 90 percent reduction in particulate matter emissions and an 80 percent reduction in oxides of nitrogen emissions compared to the old, higher-polluting locomotives.

California State Transportation Agency

Thanks in part to over $4 million in funds from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, the Solano Transportation Authority has linked underserved parts of the cities of Vallejo and Fairfield to regional public transit services. This funding is supporting the $10.8 million Solano Regional Transit Initiative (SRTI), which is providing residents in Solano county with increased access to faster, more efficient transit options that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while connecting them to employment, health, educational, and other facilities that can improve their quality of life.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

The California Alliance for Community Composting (Alliance)is helping community groups develop or expand 50 community composting sites in disadvantaged and low-income communities across California using funds from the Community Composting for Green Spaces Grant Program. Altogether, these sites are expected to prevent nearly 11,000 tons of organic waste from going to landfills by creating compost, which prevents the release of greenhouse gases during its decomposition. The Alliance’s work will also provide communities with additional benefits, including free compost, job training, and more.

California Air Resources Board

Thanks to $50,000 from the California Air Resources Board’s Fluorinated Gas Reduction Incentive Program, Stater Bros. Markets installed a climate-friendly refrigeration system at a new supermarket in Whittier that will result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that is the equivalent to taking more than 1,000 vehicles off the road for one year. Since refrigerants are among the fastest growing climate pollutants worldwide it is important to have projects like this one to demonstrate that transitioning the grocery sector toward cleaner refrigerants is an effective strategy for mitigating climate change.

California Strategic Growth Council

The Mission Heritage Plaza project is using $16.8 million to help local partners build 71 new energy-efficient, affordable homes in downtown Riverside. The project will also plant over 200 new trees, provide two miles of new bike lanes, and create a multi-modal transit hub that links local and regional transit systems in one convenient location.

California Wildlife Conservation Board

The Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (CCFCWCD) received a grant of $1,250,000 to restore 400 acres of coastal wetlands and adjacent habitat at the mouth of Walnut Creek and its tributary, Pacheco Creek.

California Strategic Growth Council

The Transform Fresno initiative, with $66.5 million in Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) investments, allowed a broad group of stakeholders to collaborate on an integrated suite of projects meant to reduce disparities in these neighborhoods.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

In a partnership with the Strategic Growth Council and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) is providing outreach, education, and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers across California

California Strategic Growth Council

The Toxic Tides research project, led by the University of California (UC), Berkeley Sustainability and Healthy Equity Laboratory is working to better understand how vulnerable communities living near hazardous sites may be affected under different sea levels rise scenarios.

California Strategic Growth Council

The Brazelton family, in partnership with the Solano Land Trust, will ensure the Brazelton ranch in Vacaville remains intact in perpetuity by placing their property under a conservation easement. Conservation of farmlands that surround urban areas helps promote infill development, avoid GHG emissions, and maintain a viable agricultural economy in the region.

California State Transportation Agency

Sonoma and Marin Counties received an $11 million grant to help pay for four newly manufactured rail passenger vehicles to complete the SMART Rail Car Capacity Project. Together with a newly launched 43-mile SMART passenger rail service across Marin and Sonoma Counties, these rail cars will connect communities, provide a transit link between job markets and worker populations and provide people with a sustainable transportation option.

California State Coastal Conservancy

The Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians are scaling up their carbon farming operations on Pauma Tribal Farms. This project includes funding for on-farm practices such as cropping, compost application, hedgerow installation, no-till, and a transition from row crops to trees for 35 acres of farmland.

California Natural Resources Agency

The Grapefruit Boulevard Urban Greening and Connectivity Project is helping to revitalize the Pueblo Viejo Downtown District in the City of Coachella.

California Natural Resources Agency

By working with both recipients of regional block grants and entities in priority regions outside areas covered by those regional block grants, the Watershed Center strengthens forestry and fire protection work at the local, regional, and state levels.

California High-Speed Rail Authority

The High Speed Rail Authority continues to use the cleanest equipment available to reduce its emissions, plant trees near the rail line to sequester carbon, and create jobs to provide opportunities and job skills to disadvantaged workers.

California Energy Commission

In 2019, Sun-Maid was awarded and matched an $806,000 grant to implement an optimized compressed air energy system at its dried fruit packing and processing facility in the city of Kingsburg.

California Department of Transportation

The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is providing free, safe, and reliable transportation to students across Los Angeles. The “DASH to Class” program allows all K-12, college, and vocational students with a Student Reduced Fare pass to ride free on LADOT Transit’s DASH buses—even for non-school related trips.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

Shark Solutions utilizes patented Shark Glass Separation technology, which processes flat laminated glass such as windshields, building glass, and safety glass.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

Rialto Bioenergy Facility, LLC (Rialto) received a $4 million grant to fund the installation of an anaerobic digester and a freezer to salvage food that would otherwise go to the landfill. These will both be important to the operational success of Rialto’s new Southern California facility, which is expected to recycle 300,000 tons of organic waste from the region annually.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

Replate, Inc., a nonprofit food rescue organization that matches surplus food from businesses with communities in need, has received two grants from CalRecycle totaling $800,000 to recover edible food that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Urban Wood Rescue, a program administered by the Sacramento Tree Foundation, is transforming dead trees from around the Sacramento region into useful lumber.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

The “Teakettle Experiment” continues important work that began over 20 years ago to quantify the effects of prescribed fire and thinning on the ecosystem in the Teakettle Experimental Forest in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. This long-term research project is examining six different treatment options, including different intensities of thinning and prescribed fire.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

The Ukiah Emergency Fuels Reduction Project is performing vegetation management activities along ridgetops in strategic locations for firefighting and protecting critical infrastructure. The project built 14 miles of shaded fuel breaks at the edges of densely populated housing in Ukiah and the forested mountains that surround the Ukiah Valley.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Chico Flax LLC developed its healthy soils project in collaboration with California State University and the Chico Department of Agriculture to use the 3.75-acre parcel as a regional prototype of sustainable flax production. They coupled the $10,700 grant funds from CDFA with a $5,000 cost-share to implement the three-year healthy soils project.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Calgren Dairy Fuels (CDF) is the first California dairy digester pipeline cluster that upgrades dairy biogas to biomethane for utility pipeline injection. It is currently the only one of its kind in California, and with 20 digesters serving 22 dairies, it is the largest collective dairy biogas operation in the country.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Where the redwoods meet the sea in Northern California’s Humboldt and Del Norte counties, Blake and Stephanie Alexandre, fourth-generation dairy farmers, received a $750,000 grant from CDFA to implement an Alternative Manure Management project.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

The North Campus Open Space (NCOS) project is restoring 54 acres of diverse coastal wetlands and upland habitat of native plants and grassland in Santa Barbara County. This restoration will increase Santa Barbara County’s coastal wetlands by 11 percent, which in turn will help adapt the coastal community to sea level rise by protecting inland infrastructure.

California Department of Community Services and Development

Mrs. Rojas and her family now have a solar photovoltaic system and energy efficiency upgrades in their home, including a high efficient air conditioning system, new windows that minimize heat transfer, a smart thermostat, and other measures that reduce energy costs while improving the comfort and livability of their home and its resiliency to climate change.

California Conservation Corps

Eugene is looking forward to a career in the energy industry. He is one of several dozen members of the California Conservation Corps (CCC) making a difference in their community, improving the environment, and developing marketable job skills.

California Air Resources Board

Jolene was approved for a voucher from the Woodsmoke Reduction program covering the entire cost of a new wood stove and its installation.

California Air Resources Board

The Volvo Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions (Volvo LIGHTS) project aims to get cleaner trucks on the road to transport goods from ports to the Inland Empire. This project includes 23 zero‑emission battery electric trucks, 29 off‑road battery electric tractors, and 58 Level 2 and direct current fast chargers.

California Air Resources Board

The San Joaquin Regional Transit District is reducing air pollution in Stockton by converting the city’s entire rapid-transit bus fleet to battery electric by 2025, making it one of the first transit districts in California to set such a goal.

California Air Resources Board

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District was awarded $2.25 million to launch a pilot project, Ecosystem of Shared Mobility, which will provide San Joaquin Valley residents with new modes of travel, while also reducing air pollution and GHGs emissions.

California Air Resources Board

Ignacio Hernandez says he would have never thought about buying a hybrid vehicle, but getting a Clean Cars 4 All voucher from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (District) enabled him to afford a cleaner, newer car.

California Air Resources Board

FARMER is a statewide program that provides incentive funding through local air districts for agricultural harvesting equipment, heavy-duty trucks, agricultural pump engines, tractors, and other equipment used in agricultural operations.

California Air Resources Board

The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) has introduced five battery electric buses and ten fuel cell electric buses into its Bay Area fleet of zero-emission buses.

California Air Resources Board

The Tribal air monitoring project aims to measure pollutants continuously and share that data with Tribal members and the community to raise awareness about the potential issues caused by the Salton Sea and other sources of emissions in the area.

California Community College students help to inform their campuses and communities about the opportunities and benefits of Climate Investments.

Community College students help to inform their campuses and communities about the opportunities and benefits of Climate Investments.

California Strategic Growth Council

In January 2018, the Strategic Growth Council awarded $33.5 million to the Watts Rising Collaborative, led by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) as part of the Transformative Climate Communities Program.

California Air Resources Board

San Ysidro is a predominantly low-income, 93% Latino community, situated along the US-Mexico border, across from the Mexican city of Tijuana. Sources of air pollution include vehicle exhaust from traffic waiting to cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the largest land-border crossing in the Western Hemisphere, as well as air pollution from Mexico.

California Air Resources Board

The City of Los Angeles received a $1.7 million grant to start a zero-emission car share pilot project, BlueLA, to operate in four Los Angeles disadvantaged communities.

California Natural Resources Agency

With $4.1 million from California Natural Resources Agency’s Urban Greening program, this project is helping bring the community’s vision to fruition and will benefit thousands of community residents. The project will create a safe and green public space where neighbors can come together and a designated route for residents to bike and walk in a safe environment.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

Since 2014, Food Forward has been recovering excess fresh produce from the wholesale produce market in downtown Los Angeles and delivering it to large-scale agencies that distribute food to those in need.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

The El Centro “Free Trees” program is an Urban Forest Expansion and Improvement project that will plant and maintain 1,000 climate appropriate trees within the city of El Centro.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

The project is a continuation of the Turtle Rock Park Biomass Collection site which serves communities in eastern Alpine County. The facility provides a location to collect green waste and biomass that is cleared from private property to create defensible space and thereby reduce wildland fire risk.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Charlie Starr grows wine grapes in San Joaquin County. In the past few years, he has been thinking about how to reduce nutrient leaching to groundwater and agricultural dust in the air. The state Healthy Soils Program provided him with the financial incentives to implement conservation management practices on his farmland. His project includes “Cover Crop” and “Reduced-Till.”

California Air Resources Board

CalVans will deploy 154 new, 15-passenger hybrid vans that provide near-zero emission transportation to agricultural job sites in the San Joaquin Valley and other disadvantaged agricultural areas of California, such as the Coachella Valley and Salinas Valley.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

The digester projects provide substantial environmental benefits by improving local air quality. Replacing the open-air lagoons of waste with a covered lagoon digester reduces manure-related emissions. Also, utilizing the methane in near-zero emissions natural gas vehicles replaces diesel vehicles and reduces NOX emissions by an estimated 90%.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Dennis DaSilva is a second-generation California dairy farmer whose parents began the family’s first dairy farm in 1983 with 150 cows. The $375,000 grant has allowed Mr. DaSilva to replace an existing solid separation system with a new, more efficient manure separator and concrete pad. Separated manure is dried and composted on the concrete pad and is then used for bedding and fertilizer for forage crops.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

The Blue Carbon at Elkhorn Slough Project is restoring 66 acres of rare salt marsh habitat and native plants while buffering the surrounding areas against future sea level rise. The Tidal Wetland Program at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve guided the project with input from more than 100 local partners, scientists, regulators, and community members.

California Air Resources Board

Car shoppers in San Diego can now get pre-approved before they purchase or lease an EV and then transfer the rebate amount directly to the dealership rather than applying for the rebate after the transaction. In just a few simple steps, the car dealership can claim the transferred rebate and use it to lower the customer’s down payment.

California Air Resources Board

In 2018, the Ukiah Unified School District in Mendocino County received funding to replace three older diesel school buses with three new zero-emission electric models.

California Air Resources Board

This program will deploy 38 electric yard trucks, 9 electric gantry cranes, 18 electric heavy lift forklifts, and 15 zero-emission Class 8 trucks. The program is also including a workforce development component with curriculum being developed to support the deployment of this technology with local school districts near the three port locations, community colleges and Long Beach State University.

California Department of Transportation

In Merced County, the Reduced and Free YARTS to Yosemite program allowed adults to ride to Yosemite National Park for $5, and children, ages 0–12 rode free. In Mariposa County, residents were provided free passes to ride the bus to and from the Park.

California Conservation Corps

Nestled along Little Sandy Creek along the northern edge of Fresno County sits the Town of Auberry. To prevent catastrophe from hitting the communities on the western edge of the Sierra National Forest, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection partnered with the California Conservation Corps to reduce the flammable woody material in the area.

California High-Speed Rail Authority

The California High-Speed Rail Authority, the city of San Mateo, and the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board are creating a grade separation project at East 25th Avenue, which will raise the Caltrain tracks and slightly lower East 25th Avenue in San Mateo, reducing idling traffic and air pollution, and improving safety.

California State Transportation Agency

Antelope Valley Transit Authority is on their way to electrifying their entire fleet, thanks to funding from California State Transportation Agency. They have purchased 29 zero-emission battery-electric buses, including the world’s first 60-foot zero-emission battery-electric articulated bus, and the nation’s first battery-electric commuter coaches.

California Strategic Growth Council

In June 2018, the City of Redding was awarded $20 million through the Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program to support the Block 7 Net Zero Housing and Downtown Activation Project.

California Strategic Growth Council

The Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC) has awarded three consecutive years of funding to the Land Trust of Napa County to protect nearly 13,000 contiguous acres of grazing lands and oak woodlands along the eastern edge of Lake Berryessa in Napa County.

California Strategic Growth Council

In the wake of the Tubbs fire, the Strategic Growth Council gave technical assistance to the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County in pursuing funding to support wildfire recovery efforts.

California Department of Water Resources

The Association of California Community and Energy Services partner agencies replaced 1,090 washing machines and 855 dishwashers with water- and energy-efficient machines . These energy and water savings will continuously provide cost savings across various communities in Kern, Madera, Contra Costa, Kings, San Francisco, and Merced counties and other low-income homes in San Mateo, Shasta, and Tehama counties.

California Department of Community Services and Development

The Allison Apartments, located in San Diego, were completely renovated and energy conserving refrigerators, LED lighting, and heat pump water heaters funded by LIWP were installed. Another CSD contracted partner, GRID Alternatives, installed an 87-kilowatt rooftop solar PV system and provided a workforce development opportunity to ten trainees, nine of whom subsequently found employment in the solar industry.

California Air Resources Board

Neighborhoods and highways near the State’s busiest ports will soon benefit from an influx of 44 heavy-duty Class 8 zero-emission trucks thanks to CARB’s California Collaborative Advanced Technology Drayage Truck Demonstration Project.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Located outside Bakersfield, the Carlos Echeverria and Sons (CE&S) Dairy Biogas project will use anaerobic digester technology to produce energy, reduce GHG emissions, comply with environmental regulations and increase nutrient availability to crops. The project is funded through CDFA’s Dairy Digester Research and Development Program (DDRDP), supported by Cap-and-Trade dollars and the California Energy Commission.

California Strategic Growth Council

The Cecchinis worked with a local land trust that was willing to purchase an easement on their property, and the land trust secured Cap-and-Trade dollars through the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) Program to purchase the conservation easement and permanently protect the land. The easement holder, Central Valley Farmland Trust, extinguished development rights on the property while the landowners retained ownership of the land.

California Air Resources Board

Clean cars are a cool and growing trend in California. Each month, California moves closer towards its goal of five million ZEVs by 2030 – with more than 367,000 on the road as of February 2018. This trend is happening as more drivers, like Jimmy Chang, become aware of the benefits clean vehicles bring to the environment and to their pocketbooks, and learn about the programs available to make cleaner vehicles more to accessible to all Californians.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

Move over Farm-to-Fork! There is a new sustainability movement emerging in California that is reducing waste, cutting GHG emissions, and providing access to new green jobs in communities across the State. You can see it on display at Command Packaging’s manufacturing facility south of downtown Los Angeles in Vernon. Think of it as “Ag-to-Bag.”

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

The second phase of a massive $100 million organic waste recycling infrastructure project is now online in Riverside County. Southern California waste management and recycling company CR&R just doubled capacity to transform the region’s food and green waste into biofuel.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

With support from CDFA’s State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP), the Desert Fresh project lowered irrigation water use by nearly 15 percent while producing the same yield using precision agriculture technology. The system also uses soil moisture sensing technology to identify when the crop needs water and know exactly how much to apply—taking the guesswork out of irrigation.

California Air Resources Board

Mark Panes cut his monthly gas bill to a quarter of what it was after learning about a pilot program in Southern California that ultimately helped him afford a battery-electric plug-in hybrid car.

California Air Resources Board

Foothill Transit has been able to take full advantage of the State’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Program (HVIP), purchasing 15 of its 30 Proterra electric buses with HVIP vouchers funded with Cap-and-Trade dollars.

California High-Speed Rail Authority

Fernando Madrigal, Jr. personifies the opportunities associated with high-speed rail. After 12 years of service with the Marine Corps, Fernando found work as a security guard. He then signed up for a 10-week training program sponsored by PG&E to introduce workers to the various constructions trades.

California State Transportation Agency

It’s here, and it’s real: the first of a new generation of light rail trains have arrived in San Francisco, marking a huge milestone for the fleet that will play a major role in transforming the Muni Metro riding experience in the years to come.

California Department of Community Services and Development

For years, Irma Vargas’ family of four struggled to pay the high utility bills that come with living on the north shore of the Salton Sea in Mecca while still maintaining a comfortable and healthy home for their children. The family’s limited income made the $400 per month bill nearly impossible during the summer months when temperatures can exceed 110°F in their Riverside County community.

California Department of Community Services and Development

Dana Guzman is a resident of Casas de la Viña, a 56-unit affordable apartment rental community that serves low-income families and farmworkers. The mother of two boys, Dana moved to Casas de la Viña when she needed to find a new home after the death of her husband. Self-Help Enterprises was able to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and make energy efficiency improvements at Casas de la Viña with Cap-and-Trade dollars.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Meadows in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges act as nature’s sponge and filter, accumulating high amounts of organic soils that help provide California with a year-round water supply. Acting like a mini-reservoir, the meadows store carbon as they capture and clean water.

California Air Resources Board

May 2017 marked the launch of the Our Community CarShare Sacramento Program. This new car sharing pilot program, available to low-income Sacramento residents, was great news to Susan Brown and came to her attention at the right time.

California Department of Water Resources

More than 1,900 households in the San Gabriel Valley are saving money, water and energy through a new rebate program supported by Cap-and-Trade dollars.

California Strategic Growth Council

As early as this summer, Sierra Village will offer 44 affordable homes with easy access to bike lanes and sidewalks in the rural community of Dinuba. This apartment rental community will not only bring an affordable housing option to hardworking low-income families, but it will also feature a vanpool program and other transportation improvements, solar and water conservation features — all of which are designed to reduce GHG emissions.

California Department of Transportation

College students in North San Diego can get around a little easier thanks to program using Cap-and-Trade dollars to subsidize transit passes.

California Strategic Growth Council

Three Fresno neighborhoods are about to undergo an economic and environmental transformation that promises to improve the quality of life for residents of Southwest, Chinatown and Downtown Fresno.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

The San Joaquin County Urban Tree Canopy Revival (SJCUTCR) project sets Stockton on a trajectory to restore the city’s once proud urban forest by planting over 1200 new trees in Stockton’s disadvantaged communities and maintaining them for the life of the grant to ensure their success.

California Air Resources Board

In May 2017, the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and its partners unveiled the first six of 29 electric school buses — what will be the largest electric school bus deployment in the U.S. — at a press event in north Sacramento.

California Air Resources Board

Thanks to a demonstration project testing advanced technologies, the Port of Los Angeles is serving as a proving ground to show how large industrial facilities can operate sustainably. The Green Omni Terminal Demonstration Project is a full-scale demonstration of zero- and near-zero emission technologies at a working marine terminal. At full build-out, the 40-acre terminal will be the world’s first marine terminal to generate all of its energy needs from renewable sources.

California Air Resources Board

The State’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP), which is now primarily supported by Cap-and-Trade dollars, promotes clean vehicle adoption by offering rebates of up to $7,000 for the purchase or lease of new, eligible zero-emission vehicles, including electric, plug-in hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles. Eligible California residents can follow a simple process to apply for a CVRP rebate after purchasing or leasing an eligible vehicle.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

The San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta is the cradle which nurtures the drinking water supply of more than 23 million Californians and much of the state’s farm land. But measurements show land on Sherman Island has sunk as much as 28 feet below sea level as the State’s population and demand for water have grown. That’s why California Climate Investments is providing more than $10 million to improve the situation.

California Air Resources Board

Jerome Mayfield had an old pickup truck that failed smog, but thanks to a scrap-and-replace pilot program in the San Joaquin Valley he’s now the proud owner of a zero-emission 2013 Nissan Leaf.

California Air Resources Board

Marie Deer, an Oakland resident, went from not having a car to acquiring a pre-owned 2015 Honda Insight, a hybrid vehicle that she was able to afford through a financing assistance program available to low income Bay Area residents who live in disadvantaged communities most impacted by air pollution.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Replanting and restoration are underway a few thousand acres at a time, and the California Climate Investment program is helping bring the King Fire area back to life. $1.9 million from the State’s Cap-and-Trade auctions is being put to work on CAL FIRE’s King Fire Rehabilitation and Reforestation Project.

California State Transportation Agency

Thanks to California Climate Investments, some commute times in Southern California may have just gotten a little shorter. Cap-and-Trade proceeds are contributing $41 million toward the purchase of 20 locomotives to replace and expand service on the Metrolink commuter rail.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

One of the most advanced composting operations in California is scaling up its operations in Fresno County. Early in 2017, Mid Valley Disposal is opening its new 10-acre, 68,000 square foot composting facility in Kerman, California. In addition to creating 47 new jobs in California’s agricultural heartland, the project serves as a model of sustainability in California’s innovative fight against climate change.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

The investment of $150,000 in Cap-and-Trade proceeds into climate-smart technology on Navdip Badhesha’s 40-acres of grapes made a big difference in water use and carbon emissions for this farmer – and for California.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Spreading the green has a whole new meaning in part of Southern California. That’s because the Incredible Edible Community Garden (IECG) and CAL FIRE are using a $615,000 grant to plant shade trees throughout communities in south San Bernardino County.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

“For the community; by the community” is the motto of the South-East Madera County United (SEMCU), a non-profit mutual benefit organization in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. In May 2015, with a $218,594 grant from the DWR, members set out to provide water efficiency devices for approximately 75 percent of homes and businesses within SEMCU’s boundary, an area encompassing five disadvantaged community census tracts.

California Department of Community Services and Development

Jose, a senior citizen whose home is located in Southern California, was having difficulties paying his electricity bill. The final straw came one day in April 2016 when he received a notice from Anaheim Public Utilities stating that his electricity service would be disconnected if he did not pay his overdue balance of $292.57 by close of business—a situation that led him to seek assistance.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Phil Verwey knows that happy cows produce better and more milk, and recent California Climate Investments in his dairy have made both Mr. Verwey—and his cows—very happy. Thanks to a $3 million grant from the CDFA’s Dairy Digester Research and Development Program in 2015, along with $4 million in matching funds, the animal manure from his operation is now being turned into high quality bedding for his herd and electricity.

California Department of Transportation

Deep in California’s Central Valley, the small City of Visalia took a big step when it started its Visalia-Fresno Shuttle Project in November 2015. The five-stop “V-line,” part of the Visalia Transit system, has a stop for everyone – students headed to Fresno State University, travelers bound for Fresno Yosemite International Airport, even visitors off to see Fresno’s leafy Courthouse Park.

California Air Resources Board

The San Joaquin Valley Transit Electrification Project has deployed 15 zero-emission battery electric transit buses, and 15 charging stations, in disadvantaged communities throughout the San Joaquin Valley.