Avoiding Burdens and Harms
Many communities across California encounter disproportionate climate risks, environmental and health hazards, and lower capacity to adapt to climate change. There is no one solution to resolve these historical and ongoing challenges. Instead, equity and environmental justice must be centered in every policy, program, and project, ensuring that climate solutions do not increase burdens for disadvantaged and low-income communities, particularly communities of color and California Native American Tribes.
Agencies administering California Climate Investments programs must consider and avoid potential substantial burdens or harms throughout program design and project selection. Program administrators and those that plan and implement projects are strongly encouraged to work with community members and community advocates to identify potential burdens or harms whenever possible.
Definition of burden or harm
For California Climate Investments, burden or harm is defined as The collection of adverse impacts to a region, community, household, culture, or environment resulting from the implementation of a climate program. Adverse impacts may be newly introduced or may continue or worsen existing inequities or patterns of injustice, including public health, social, cultural, economic, or environmental injustice. A burden or harm can be direct or indirect, and exists across time, beginning at the planning of a proposed project or the application process, and extending past direct implementation, towards long-term impacts.
The terms burden and harm are used interchangeably within the context of California Climate Investments.
Supplemental Guidance and Tool
California Climate Investments developed the following tools to support administering agencies in implementing the avoiding burdens requirement of the Funding Guidelines. Both the supplemental guidance and tool have required and recommended steps.
Supplemental Guidance to Avoid Substantial Burdens or Harms to Priority Populations is a three-phase approach to identify and avoid burdens with recommended strategies for implementation. The three phases are:
Identify Potential Burdens
Develop Strategies to Avoid Burdens
Evaluate Outcomes and Identify Improvements
Burdens Identification and Strategy Tool is For administering agencies to document how they implement the phases of the supplemental guidance.
Supporting Resources for Avoiding Burdens
To help administering agencies implement the avoiding burdens requirement, CARB has developed additional resources to aid in identifying and avoiding burdens in program design and project selection for each phase of the guidance:
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