California Climate Investments is committed to delivering economic, environmental, and public health benefits for Californians and priority populations in particular. Project profiles are grantee stories that provide a glimpse across the state while highlighting examples of how program funds can be used to make an impact locally and beyond.
Visit the Project Profiles Map to explore these stories by administering agency, program, publication year, and county.
2022
California Air Resources Board
Thanks to $440,000 from California Climate Investments through Access Clean California, Latino and Latina Roundtable is connecting residents of environmentally and economically disadvantaged communities with benefits like electric vehicle incentives and solar power. The California Air Resources Board’s Access Clean California is designed to partner with community-based organizations to raise awareness of the incentives available and help California's most impacted communities better access the clean transportation and mobility funding. Access Clean California also works to help build the capacity of community organizations to conduct clean mobility outreach.
California Air Resources Board
Thanks to $12 million from the Advanced Technology Demonstration and Pilot Projects and $29 million in match funding from multiple project partners, the NorCAL Zero-Emission Regional and Drayage Operations with Fuel Cell Electric Trucks (NorCAL Zero) Project will support the largest commercial deployment of Class 8 hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks in the country. These zero-emission trucks will improve the air quality of communities between Oakland and Bakersfield by displacing diesel-fueled trucks that emit harmful air pollutants.
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Supported by a $565,470 grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Alternative Manure Management Program, Paul Danbom of Brindeiro & Danbom Dairy Farms in Turlock took a significant step towards improving the efficiency of his dairy operation and installed a new solid separation system. Instead of flushed manure being discharged directly into a settling pond and storage lagoon system, it is now pumped through a separator capable of capturing a large portion of manure solids, keeping that organic material from entering and decomposing in a liquid environment where it would produce methane.
California Coastal Commission
Using a $65,000 grant awarded under the Coastal Resilience Planning program, the City of Morro Bay engaged with its community to update the City’s Land Use Plan, the first step to updating its Local Coastal Program to include updated adaptation strategies and land use policies that will protect coastal infrastructure and provide resilience to future coastal hazards.
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
The non-profit Fresno Metropolitan Ministry (Fresno Metro), in partnership with the Central California Food Bank, is using a $300,000 grant from the Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program to expand their capacity to rescue and distribute more edible food through their Food to Share program. Over the grant term, Fresno Metro will add 20 new food recovery school sites from Fresno Unified and Central Unified School Districts, set up 5 new food distribution sites at local community-based organizations, and increase direct food recoveries by adding 2 new retail locations and 6 urban gleaning sites
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Supported by a $500,000 grant from the Forest Health Research Program, the Sequoia Foundation, in partnership with the California Department of Public Health and others, is investigating the impacts of increasing prescribed fire on air quality and public health outcomes. Although prescribed fire plans are designed to limit air quality impacts to communities, they still produce some level of smoke. In this project, this interdisciplinary team will collect information that can help minimize the impacts of this smoke through a combination of smoke modeling, exposure assessment, health analysis, and community engagement.
State Water Resources Control Board
Thanks in part to a $21,253 technical assistance grant from the State Water Resources Control Board’s Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund, the City of Manteca will be able to provide safe water for Nile Garden Elementary School by consolidating the school into the City of Manteca’s public water system.
California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
Kompogas SLO Inc. received $3 million through the Organics Grants program to build a high-solids anaerobic digester, to be known as the Lancaster Organic Waste Facility, at the existing Lancaster Landfill and Recycling Center in Antelope Valley. With this new anaerobic digester, Kompogas SLO Inc. will be able to process residential food and green waste collected by Waste Management Inc. throughout Antelope Valley, including in the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, and turn it into renewable natural gas and high-grade compost.
California Workforce Development Board
Using $1.25 million from the Low-Carbon Economy Workforce program, the Expanding Energy Storage and Microgrid Training and Certification (EESAMTAC) project is increasing the number of participating Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Centers from six to 21 centers located across the State. These training centers will help electricians and apprentices earn a certification demonstrating they have the skills to safely handle and diagnose modern energy storage systems and battery technologies.
California Wildlife Conservation Board
Supported by $400,000 from the Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program, a coalition of federal, academic, non-profit and private organizations has developed a modeling tool to enhance climate adaptation and resilience planning in five Sacramento River watersheds. These watersheds provide the vast majority of California’s utilized water and over 80 percent of the freshwater to San Francisco Bay. By estimating the ecological returns of conservation and restoration efforts, the modeling tool will help determine what future actions and investments would best restore and protect the health of this important region.
California Strategic Growth Council
Supported by $2.4 million from a $23 million Transformative Climate Communities implementation grant, a coalition of community members, non-profits, and public-sector agencies called Green Together, is working to build a new generation of air quality ambassadors in the Pacoima and Sun Valley communities of the San Fernando Valley. The Clean Air Ambassadors Program, established as part of the Green Together Community Engagement Plan, trains community youth organizers through workshops covering air quality monitoring, health, climate change and air pollution. Through the program, ambassadors learn how to collect and interpret data using scientific tools to measure local particulate matter pollution. Ambassadors also learn how to communicate air pollution principles and advocate for data-informed clean air solutions. In 2021, the Clean Air Ambassadors Program hosted its inaugural class of youth leaders.
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Supported by $3.57 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Climate Smart Agriculture initiative provides technical assistance to help farmers find funding and implement projects that support their work while helping to achieve the State’s climate goals. These funds, which were leveraged by California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Strategic Growth Council, support 10 Community Education Specialists, a group of technical experts with the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Since 2019, these Community Education Specialists have assisted over 850 farmers and ranchers across the State with applications to programs under the Climate Smart Agriculture initiative.
2021
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
Supported by $110,722 from California Climate Investments, a new initiative led by San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission will create a roadmap for the Bay Area to adapt better and faster to the rising sea level.
California Wildlife Conservation Board
The Climate Adaptation and Resilience Program awarded a grant of $512,000 from California Climate Investments to Audubon California to assist ranchers in transitioning to more regenerative grazing approaches through a ranch certification program.
California Strategic Growth Council
The COVID‑19 pandemic has exacerbated existing food insecurity in the Watts community in Los Angeles, where the Transformative Climate Communities Program in 2017 made a $33.25 million investment of California Climate Investment funds to implement the Watts Rising vision. To ensure continued access to fresh produce throughout the pandemic, the Watts Rising collaborative partners harnessed their existing virtual community engagement events as a platform to distribute food and critical public health information.
California Strategic Growth Council
With the help of technical assistance providers funded by the California Strategic Growth Council’s California Climate Investments Technical Assistance program, Arcata 30th Street Commons became the first tribal led project funded by California Climate Investments through the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program. The project, proposed by the Yurok Indian Housing Authority, earned a $11.4 million award and exemplifies how a strong vision, combined with partnership, technical assistance, and investment can help transform an under resourced community.
California Strategic Growth Council
In Los Angeles County, transitioning to clean, renewable energy will improve air quality and reduce the overall carbon footprint in California’s most populous region. With a $638,878 award from California Climate Investments through the Climate Change Research Program, a partnership led by the University of California, Los Angeles and Liberty Hill Foundation is helping to make this transition equitable, affordable, and beneficial for people living in the area’s priority populations. That means engaging these communities at all stages of the research.
California Strategic Growth Council
In the fifth round of its Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation program, the California Strategic Growth Council approved a $1,550,000 grant from California Climate Investments to the Land Trust of Santa Barbara County to purchase an easement that will permanently protect the 999‑acre Jalama Cañon Ranch. This year, with support from the California Department of Conservation and in partnership with the White Buffalo Land Trust, the Land Trust of Santa Barbara County focused on laying the groundwork for the agricultural easement so it can protect these agricultural and natural lands from conversion to more greenhouse gas‑intensive uses.
California Strategic Growth Council
In June 2020, artists, their families, and low‑income earners in Santa Ana began moving into new affordable homes funded in part by a $12 million award from California Climate Investments through the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program. In partnership with the Southern California Association of Governments, the Santa Ana Arts Collective development promotes sustainability and health through active transportation safety activities, supported by over .5 miles of bicycle facility improvements and 36 improved pedestrian crossings. The project also features a gallery space for resident and community artists, and Meta Housing is partnering with Western Community Housing to deliver on‑site adult education services.
California State Water Resources Control Board
Westside Elementary School in the Coachella Valley relied solely on well water for its drinking water. The well had an unfortunate history of both contamination and the inability to provide adequate water supplies to prevent fires. Thanks in part to a nearly $370,000 from California Climate Investments through the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund, these problems have been solved.
California State Transportation Agency
Caltrain, the seventh-largest commuter rail agency in the nation, is undergoing a major transformation by electrifying the railroad to provide cleaner, quieter, and more efficient service. In 2018, Caltrain received a grant from California Climate Investments through the Transit and Intercity Capital Rail Program, allowing the agency to expand the new electric train fleet from 16 six‑car trainsets to 19 seven‑car trainsets. This greatly expands both the capacity and the potential frequency of the soon‑to‑be‑electrified rail service.
California State Coastal Conservancy
A major transportation corridor in the city of Carlsbad, South Carlsbad Boulevard is highly vulnerable to flooding and erosion as a result of climate change. But thanks to a $498,075 grant from California Climate Investments through the Climate Ready Grant Program, the city was awarded in 2019, Carlsbad is creating a plan to protect a portion of the boulevard that is particularly vulnerable to sea‑level rise, frequent coastal flooding, and cliff erosion.
California Natural Resources Agency
One of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust’s most exciting parks currently under construction is the 8.5‑acre, multi‑benefit Wishing Tree Park located in unincorporated West Carson, Los Angeles County. This project has been in the works for decades, and thanks in part to a $2,500,000 grant from California Climate Investments through the Urban Greening Program the park will be opening to the public in late 2021.
California Natural Resources Agency
The North Coast Resource Partnership is a unique coalition of North Coast Tribes and seven counties that represent the North Coast and Klamath/Interior Coast Ranges ecological regions, both of which are important carbon storage areas in California. To help protect the health of forests in this territory, the North Coast Resource Partnership is using $4,037,500 of California Climate Investments funding through the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program to develop a regional priority plan that will generate implementation‑ready projects and provide funding for demonstration projects.
California High-Speed Rail Authority
The High‑Speed Rail Authority is responsible for planning, designing, building and operating the first high‑speed rail in the nation. When complete, it will run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours, providing a clean alternative to driving or flying. Funded in part by California Climate Investments, the project is already contributing to economic development and a cleaner environment, creating jobs, and preserving agricultural and protected lands.
California Environmental Protection Agency
Supported by nearly $2.6 million from California Climate Investments, the California Environmental Protection Agency is working with University of California researchers to carry out two studies that will help California reach its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. In particular, these studies will examine ways to reduce emissions from the transportation sector, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California. The studies will also quantify air pollution and economic impacts for multiple greenhouse gas emissions reduction scenarios.
California Energy Commission
Oya Organic Farms, an organic vegetable farm in Hollister, received a $76,446 grant from California Climate Investments through the Renewable Energy for Agriculture Program that, together with a 76 percent match from the farm, will finance the installation of solar panels to power an irrigation pump and storage/office building. Their new 27‑kilowatt solar system allows the farm to use zero‑emission electricity for their domestic well and re‑invest energy savings towards the farm. Furthermore, a standalone 6.4‑kilowatt solar system coupled with battery storage will power the off‑grid produce storage room and office on the farm.
California Energy Commission
Imperial Western Products, Inc. is demonstrating how clean energy technology can help food processing facilities advance California’s climate and energy goals.
California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
Netafim Irrigation, Inc. received a total of $2,011,647 from California Climate Investment through the Recycled Fiber, Plastic, and Glass Grant Program. This money supports its operations as a closed‑loop recycling solution for used irrigation tubing that serves commercial farming operations in the Central Coast region of California. Netafim’s grant is expanding an established and successful recycling operation. As a result of this expansion in Netafim’s operations, the project is estimated to divert 83,059 tons of material from landfills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 66,447 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
SANCO Services received $3 million from California Climate Investments through the Organics Grants program to help fund equipment vital to the operation of a new anaerobic digestion system under construction at the Escondido Resource Recovery Transfer Station.
California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
Twenty years ago, Hope 4 the Heart began providing food rescue services to their Hayward, California community and surrounding areas. In 2019, they received $329,766 from California Climate Investments through the Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
A $996,600 grant from California Climate Investments through the Urban and Community Forestry program will help Urban Salvaged and Reclaimed Woods, Inc. pilot a shared storefront project. This storefront will allow businesses handling salvaged wood from urban areas to combine resources to better process, market, and sell their products.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
At the University of California’s Blodgett Forest Research Station in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, the long running Fire and Fire Surrogate study has provided critical information to forest managers and landowners on the use of prescribed fire and restoration thinning. With a $454,772 grant from California Climate Investments through the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Forest Health Research Program, Dr. John Battles, Dr. Scott Stephens, and other researchers are continuing this important work with an eye towards understanding the value of repeated application of fuel reduction treatments on Sierra Nevada mixed‑conifer forests. Forest managers and landowners throughout the state and beyond will be able to use the results of this study to inform their management actions and policy decisions in the face of warming climate and increasing wildfires.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
In collaboration with forest industry and utility partners and the Modoc National Forest, the Pit Resource Conservation District is implementing a $5 million California Climate Investments Forest Health grant to increase forest resilience in Modoc County. The fuels reduction and prescribed fire activities funded by this project will take place on public and private lands to increase forest resilience, accelerate reforestation of severely burned forests, and reduce the risk of future catastrophic fire impacts to local communities, ecosystems, and natural resources. This project complements efforts by state, federal, and local agencies to increase the pace and scale of fuel treatments in California’s forests.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
The Elk Creek Fuel Break, one of the 35 emergency fuel reduction projects prioritized in the Governor’s 2019 Community Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation Report, was completed in part with $325,000 in California Climate Investments funds. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection implemented the project to protect lives, property, and valuable agricultural resources in the communities of Elk Creek and Stonyford, which are adjacent to the Mendocino National Forest. During the 2020 Butte/Tehama/Glenn Lightning Complex Fire, the Elk Creek Fuel Break helped contain the fire with eight miles of fire line.
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Pamela Posey of Harpos Organics is revitalizing soil health on two acres of walnut trees that have been farmed for more than 40 years. Since her December 2017 purchase of the property, located on the urban edge of Chico, California, Posey has managed the land using healthy soil management practices. In her quest to restore the property from the ground up, Posey turned to the Healthy Soils Program and received a $8,860 grant from California Climate Investments with a $1,500 cost share to achieve her goals of improving the health of the soil and providing increased biodiversity.
California Department of Food and Agriculture
The CalBioGas Kern County biogas cluster – or Kern Cluster – was developed by a joint venture between California Bioenergy, Chevron U.S.A. Incorporated, and several California dairy farmers. The Dairy Digester Research and Development Program has awarded grants totaling over $17.6 million from California Climate Investments to the dairy operations in the Kern Cluster, which is comprised of eight family‑owned dairy farms. Thanks to these funds, these dairies now capture and prevent the release of methane – a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide – and are creating a renewable source of fuel.
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Dairy farmer Lucas Wilgenburg improved the manure management on his Hanford, California facility, Wilgenburg West LLC, using a $342,207 grant from California Climate Investments awarded by the Alternative Manure Management Program.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
With help from a $680,974 grant from California Climate Investments through the Wetlands & Watershed Restoration Program, the Sierra Fund and project partners are carrying out multi‑benefit restoration efforts at the 2,655‑acre Clover Valley Ranch. Initiated in 2017, this project will sequester nearly 188,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent while halting stream incision; increasing biodiversity; and improving hydrologic function, flood reduction, sediment filtration and water quality. However, the goal of this project extends beyond of ecosystem function and carbon sequestration benefits; these activities will also support community and cultural resilience through the promotion of cultural skills and activities.
California Department of Community Services and Development
The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation’s (TNDC) commitment to help San Francisco’s low‑income communities thrive by building affordable housing was energized by an electrification project at its SOMA Studio and Family Apartments (SOMA Apartments) in 2020. The effort is supported by a $633,000 award from California Climate Investments through the Department of Community Services and Development’s Low Income Weatherization Program’s (LIWP) Multi‑Family component. With that money and contributions from other local energy efficiency programs, TNDC kept utility bills low for residents while electrifying major central building systems and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Built in 2003, the SOMA Apartments include 162 homes with more than 60 percent of its households classified as extremely low‑income (earning less than 30 percent of the area median income).
California Department of Community Services and Development
Thanks to $2 million from California Climate Investments through the Low‑Income Weatherization Program, GRID Alternatives Inland Empire is implementing the Community Solar Pilot project, the first community solar array in California specifically designed to benefit low‑income households. Situated on Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indian tribal lands in Riverside County, the Community Solar Pilot project will not only lower energy costs for tribal members and other low‑income households but also provided an opportunity for tribal members to gain valuable experience as solar installation trainees.
California Conservation Corps
The California Conservation Corps, a state department within the California Natural Resources Agency, uses funds from California Climate Investments to complete projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions across California. These funds target forest health projects, especially fuel load reduction where dead and dying trees, brush, and vegetation are removed to reduce wildfire intensity and rate of spread. The McKay Community Forest Fuel Reduction project provided skilled labor to Humboldt County to minimize fire danger near communities on the southeastern edge of the City of Eureka.
California Coastal Commission
In light of critical dangers to the city of Santa Cruz’s roughly 4.6 miles of coastline posed by climate change, the city is using a $200,000 grant from California Climate Investments through the Coastal Resilience LCP Planning Grant Program to develop strategies and policies intended to protect public beach access, prevent community displacement, and build resiliency against future coastal hazards.
California Air Resources Board
The Shasta County Air Quality Management District is doing its part to restore resilient, carbon‑storing, and wildfire‑resistant forests and protect public health across northern California with help from a $159,000 grant from California Climate Investments through the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Prescribed Fire Reporting and Monitoring Program. The program supports state forest management and wildfire resilience goals by providing local resources that improve the prescribed burn planning, smoke monitoring, and air quality data collection. These improvements facilitate the implementation of prescribed burning, while also providing the Shasta County Air Quality Management District and the public better information on smoke in order to protect human health.
California Air Resources Board
The adjacent ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles combined are the largest fixed sources of air pollution in the South Coast Air Basin, one of the most polluted air basins in the United States, in large part because the trucks and equipment used at the ports burn diesel fuel. Recognizing this, the Sustainable Terminals Accelerating Regional Transformation demonstration project was awarded $50 million to replace trucks and equipment with zero‑emission technology. The funding, which comes from California Climate Investments, supports the deployment of 102 pieces of zero‑emission terminal equipment and trucks at seaports across California, including at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These funds are also supporting the development of new, cleaner tugboats; the deployment of two container vessels with cleaner‑burning engines; and advanced workforce development programs to support sustainable goods movement across California.
California Air Resources Board
The Community Housing Development Corporation, a community‑based organization in Richmond, received over $6.5 million from California Climate Investments for a pilot project to assist with the purchase of newer, cleaner cars in low‑income households in Sacramento and the Bay Area. The pilot project, known as Driving Clean Assistance Program, provides up to $5,000 for hybrid or plug‑in electric vehicle price buy‑down and up to an additional $2,000 for electric vehicle service equipment. The pilot enables low‑income individuals and families, who would otherwise not qualify for a loan due to credit challenges, to obtain a loan at competitive rates. This transformative initiative includes credit counseling, budget counseling, and financial education.
California Air Resources Board
Thanks to $9.8 million from California Climate Investments, El Monte Union High School District will be able to implement their Clean Mobility in Schools project, one of three projects awarded to school districts across California in 2020. These funds will help El Monte Union High School District purchase battery electric school buses and charging infrastructure, energy storage infrastructure, develop an active transportation plan, and much more, across six high schools and one bus garage.
California Air Resources Board
Project Clean Air, Inc., in collaboration with several partners, is implementing the San Joaquin Valley Electric Tractor Development and Demonstration project. Supported by $1.5 million in California Climate Investments funding, the project’s goals are to design, customize, develop, and test the first all‑electric agriculture tractors with in-field mobile charging supporting electric Class 6 trucks in California. By demonstrating the functionality of this fleet of electric vehicles, this project will help create a market for electric agricultural and freight equipment.
California Air Resources Board
The Funding Agricultural Replacement Measures for Emission Reductions (FARMER) program provides up to 80 percent of funding for agricultural vehicle and equipment replacement and repower projects. Thanks to this program, Jannifer Mytych and Agri‑World Cooperative were approved by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to receive California Climate Investment funds for new tractors to help reduce emissions while maintaining their almond farms.
With delivery of 10 new Lion Electric all‑electric school buses in December 2020, Twin Rivers Unified School District’s (TRUSD) fleet of 40 zero‑emission buses represents the largest deployment of zero‑emission school buses in North America. Several California Climate Investments programs, including Community Air Protection Incentives, played a crucial role in reaching this major milestone.
California Air Resources Board
Launched in January 2019, the South Central Los Angeles Project to Understand the Sources and Health Impacts of Local Air Pollution (SCLA‑PUSH) aims to help South Central LA organizations and community residents better understand the state of air quality and health in their community and engage in air monitoring and data analysis to advance community‑driven solutions in air quality policy. The project was awarded $300,000 by the AB 617 Community Air Grant Program and is led by Physicians for Social Responsibility–Los Angeles (PSR‑LA).
2020 Annual Report
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.
2019
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.
2018
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.
2017
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 Department of Community Services and Development
After facing increasingly unaffordable energy bills year-after-year, Milton, a Sacramento County resident, learned about the State’s low-income solar program offered through the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). He became interested in the program and was one of many residents that benefited from this assistance.
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 High-Speed Rail Authority
Students continue to flock to classes and training that can lead to jobs on California’s High-Speed Rail project and other infrastructure projects. Two years ago, Yovani Moreno took Pre-Apprenticeship Training classes at the Construction and General Laborers’ Local 294 union hall in Fresno.
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.