State & Local Energy & Climate Coordination (SLECC) Presents
REACH Inland Empire
REACH’s long term mission is to leverage the collective power of state, federal and regional capacity and resources to advance place-based energy, climate, and land use priorities through lasting regional hubs. It is community-driven (local gov, tribal gov, academic institutions, philanthropy, CBO/NGOs) and partners and engages with State and federal agencies.
In the effort to continue engagement in the Inland Empire (San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial Counties) REACH is intended as an ongoing series. To that end we have created the opportunities below to stay engage and begin to plan future events.
CCEC and SGC will continuously work to build on what we are learning from the inland empire to build a landscape analysis and assistance guide for the region. These materials are intended to support community and state leaders as they seek to understand and serve the region and will evolve over time as we continue to engage. Like we said, Regional Energy and Climate Hubs (REACH) are intended to be more than just a convening!
Regional Assistance Guide
The Regional Assistance guide is a constantly updated guide showcasing organizations in the inland empire that provide FREE funding, incentives, or technical assistance to local, tribal, CBOs, NGOs, or schools in the Inland Empire.
CCEC has been compiling a dynamic report will continuously compile and refine a cumulative understanding of the key climate, energy, and land use priorities, players, and practices in the region known as the Inland Empire or Inland Deserts. This information is intended to help regional and state leaders better serve the region through improved access to funding, technical assistance, and helpful policies while reducing the need for duplicative, siloed, shallow, and time-consuming engagement from agencies and other service providers.
Have feedback on our landscape analysis page? Add comments directly using the link HERE. Feel free to comment directly on the page, attend our meeting to be a part of the discussion, or send an email to eecoordinator@civicwell.org.
Key Priority Areas for the Inland Deserts Region – Defining Challenges and Identifying Solutions
The priorities, barriers, challenges, and potential solutions brought up in the Inland Deserts Region during the 2024 REACH IE event can be found below. CCEC is working to continuously update this information based on what we learn from the region. If you live or work in the greater Inland Deserts region please let us know how we can expand and refine our information. Either share new ideas, best practices or general feedback via this form, or click on a particular item to share additional feedback, information, examples of progress on that particular item.
Many small and rural jurisdictions lack staff and technical capacity—often relying on a single planner to manage CEQA reviews, general plan updates, and grant applications—making it difficult to maintain Climate Action Plans (CAPs).
Local leaders called for regional collaboration and alignment, leveraging COGs, RENs, and county planning hubs to share expertise, synchronize CAP and General Plan updates, and use integrated modeling tools like Cal-Adapt and the Vulnerable Communities Platform.
State solutions included modular, scalable guidance tailored to different community types and continued investment in regional technical assistance. Participants also highlighted the need for improved data access and stronger equity integration, citing progress through SGC’s TCC and CRC programs and UC Riverside’s Inland Deserts Regional Assessment as models for community-driven climate action.
Barrier 1: Planning Capacity
Too much local capacity (staff time/resources) and technical expertise is needed to develop/ track/ update greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and climate action plans (CAPs), which takes away from implementation.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Inland Deserts, San Diego
Small and rural jurisdictions often have only one full-time or part-time planner responsible for CEQA review, multiple General Plan updates, complex grant applications, and maintaining GHG inventories and Climate Action Plans. This workload leaves little capacity for implementation and widens inequities with better-resourced cities that have dedicated climate or grant-writing staff. State guidance—such as lengthy General Plan Guidelines—is not user-friendly for small jurisdictions, highlighting the need for clearer examples, streamlined tools, and regionally tailored templates to help local governments integrate climate action and resilience requirements across mandated plans.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Currently, most local jurisdictions develop Climate Action Plans (CAPs) separately from their General Plans, resulting in fragmented or inconsistent implementation across planning elements like circulation, housing, open space, and conservation. This siloed approach limits the ability of local governments to translate climate targets into actionable land-use and design decisions. It also leads to inefficiencies, as jurisdictions must maintain multiple overlapping documents without shared metrics or data systems.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Leverage regional technical assistance networks to strengthen local planning capacity. Councils of Governments (COGs), Regional Energy Networks (RENs), and county planning collaboratives can serve as shared planning hubs, helping small jurisdictions interpret and apply state guidance, conduct vulnerability assessments, and pool technical expertise.
Regional technical assist model you can piggyback on: The REN-led “Energized Communities” program is built precisely because cities “don’t have staff bandwidth to do any of the work.” Use its scaffolding for CAP/inventory tasks (not just project delivery).
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Align local planning cycles: Cities and counties can plan concurrent updates of CAPs, General Plans, and zoning codes to ensure consistency and reduce duplicated effort—a concern noted by local planners who “don’t update zoning or CAPs that often” and need better cadence alignment with state data releases
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Use integrated modeling tools when updating General Plans and CAPs: Regional energy networks (RENs), councils of governments (COGs), and MPOs can leverage shared datasets—like Cal-Adapt and the Vulnerable Communities Platform—to bridge climate science with land-use and transportation planning
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Cross-sector planning teams: Establish multi-departmental working groups (planning, public works, sustainability, housing) to integrate CAP measures (e.g., VMT reduction, energy efficiency, heat mitigation) into all general plan elements.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Provide regionalized technical and financial assistance – The state, through LCI, SGC, and partner agencies, should deliver sustained training, templates, and staff funding to help smaller jurisdictions develop GHG inventories, implement CAPs, and apply General Plan Guidelines with less reliance on consultants.
1. To further support climate action planning, CARB has collected anecdotal information on challenges when gathering GHG inventories and has initiated research contracts aimed at developing tools, best practices, and capacity building. This includes a contract with Dr. Boswell at Cal Poly to: Gather representative sample from recent CAPs with inventories to develop questions that would be helpful in identifying the challenge, and interview local jurisdictions. Evaluate identified tools that can be helpful to jurisdictions when creating CAPs and/or inventories, to better recommend to jurisdictions which tools will benefit them. 2. California is actively engaging with providers of local GHG inventory tools, serving on expert advisory committees for the UC Berkeley/StopWaste GHG inventory tool and collaborating with Sidewalk Labs.
A recently formed Technical Advisory Group through CARB and the Governor's Office for Land Use and Climate Innovation supporting local CAPs. The Climate Action Planning Technical Advisory Group, formed during the update of the General Plan Guidelines for LCI, has reviewed CAP literature, inventory development, and integration with general plans. They aim to provide guidance on CAP creation vs. updates, clarify their mission, and outline state priorities to help cities take effective action.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Develop interactive, modular guidance as part of the General Plan Guidelines that scales by jurisdiction size and geography—e.g., allowing planners to input whether they are inland, coastal, or desert to receive customized climate strategies and sample policies
The proposed online GPG platform—with customizable recommendations by jurisdiction type—is cited as a major step forward in addressing the capacity gap for smaller and rural communities. LCI noted the next GPG update (2025–2027) aims to ensure that “wherever you’re from, whether a big city like Los Angeles or a part-time planner in Bishop, you can take these guidelines easily, see what you have to do, and integrate climate into your plan”
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Integrate guidance into the 2027 General Plan Guidelines
The upcoming 2027 update to the General Plan Guidelines will embed climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience across all elements, replacing standalone CAP sections. This includes new optional elements on urban design, water, and natural and working lands, each linked to climate policy outcomes. The LCI–CARB partnership under the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan process is a best practice in aligning statewide and local climate strategies. It integrates emissions analysis, workforce, and funding considerations into shared planning guidance. The forthcoming LCI Climate Action Plan Technical Advisory is explicitly designed to close the CAP–General Plan gap by showing “how conservation, open space, even urban design will all be connecting to climate, and how you can plan for that”
Barrier 2: Source Data
Problems accessing GHG source data (e.g., utility or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) data) cause long delays in developing, updating, and monitoring GHG inventories.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Local governments struggle to keep pace with evolving climate data and assessments when their planning documents—like general plans and zoning codes—are only updated once every few decades.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Enhance public access and coordination of climate data resources. Integrate and streamline climate data tools across universities and agencies, ensuring key datasets are updated frequently and made easily accessible to support local planning and decision-making.
Cal-Adapt follows the global climate data cycle—updated roughly every 5–6 years—and that the state is developing evolving tools like the Vulnerable Communities Platform to “add new information as it’s available” and help planners align to the latest assessment data
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Enhance public access and coordination of climate data resources. Integrate and streamline climate data tools across universities and agencies, ensuring key datasets are updated frequently and made easily accessible to support local planning and decision-making.
Cal-Adapt follows the global climate data cycle—updated roughly every 5–6 years—and that the state is developing evolving tools like the Vulnerable Communities Platform to “add new information as it’s available” and help planners align to the latest assessment data
Complex zoning, CEQA inconsistencies, and community resistance continue to limit infill and affordable housing development. Many cities struggle to balance growth with infrastructure and energy capacity, especially in the Inland Empire. Financing remains fragmented—requiring multiple grants and reviews that delay projects—while retrofits can unintentionally displace tenants. Growing heat, wildfire, and insurance risks further strain older housing stock and low-income renters. Jurisdictions are modernizing zoning to enable mixed-use and higher-density development, integrating infrastructure planning, and creating regional loan funds and project pipelines to reduce delays. Programs like Lift to Rise and Seaside’s infill model use storytelling and health framing to build public support. Local governments are also launching retrofit campaigns and local contractor pipelines while partnering with CBOs and health districts to protect residents from displacement, heat, and air quality risks.
The state can expand housing–climate incentives (Pro-Housing, AHSC, Infill Grants), align agency funding through SGC’s Housing, Climate, and Equity Resolution, and strengthen tenant protections tied to retrofit programs. Participants highlighted progress through California Jobs First, CARB’s heat and air-quality grants, and the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program, which integrate equity, housing, and climate resilience.
Barrier 1: Housing Regulation
Complex zoning laws, inconsistent CEQA requirements, lengthy permitting processes, and local opposition to new development have historically limited housing production and infill development.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts
Community resistance to housing development remains a major barrier (NIMBY Opposition). Local leaders noted that opposition—often framed as protecting neighborhood “green space” or preserving single-family character—can reflect deeper resistance to multifamily density and infill. Many residents still associate new housing with congestion or environmental harm rather than recognizing its potential to improve public health, cost efficiency, and climate outcomes. To counter these perceptions, planners and advocates emphasized the need for “say yes to housing” messaging grounded in community values, highlighting how well-planned homes can reduce commute emissions, improve air quality, and create safe, stable environments for families.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Cities want to entice development but need to make sure its appropriate for different areas. Participants emphasized that existing zoning and building codes often make infill, mixed-use, or smaller-footprint housing difficult. Cities want flexibility to “allow more housing types and more places,” increase density near transit, and adopt more sustainable design requirements.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Modernize and proactively reform zoning codes to enable mid- and high-density mixed-use development. Updates should include eliminating or reducing minimum home size requirements and allowing mobile, modular, multifamily, and mixed-use housing options that expand affordability and flexibility in community design.
1. City of Glendale – Since the 2000s, Glendale permitted 6–7-story mixed-use/apartment buildings in its commercial core. This long-term approach “flooded the market” with housing, keeping rents “pretty reasonable” compared to surrounding Los Angeles. Glendale is now layering parks, pedestrian, and bike plans after this growth, showing how infrastructure can catch up to zoning-enabled supply. Why it matters: Large-scale production moderated rents relative to surrounding LA markets; an example of land-use enablement delivering supply at scale. 2. City of Seaside’s planning approach prioritizes mixed-use infill development—combining housing, small businesses, and civic spaces within walkable districts. This structure reduces vehicle miles traveled (VMT), a major contributor to regional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while encouraging economic vibrancy and livability. The city has repurposed underused parcels into compact, transit-oriented neighborhoods that integrate energy-efficient buildings, pedestrian pathways, and public gathering areas.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Provide data-driven and culturally sensitive communication tools to support housing. State agencies such as LCI and SGC can help local governments by sharing accessible, multilingual data visualizations that show how housing supports reduced emissions, economic resilience, and child health outcomes.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Continue and expand state tools and incentives to entice local housing growth
HCD’s Pro-Housing incentives, the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, and the Infill Infrastructure Grant, which connect new development to climate-friendly infrastructure and transit access
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Provide technical assistance and incentives for local governments experimenting with flexible zoning and green building standards tailored to regional conditions (e.g., desert heat resilience in Coachella Valley versus infill cooling needs in San Bernardino).
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Support community engagement funding around local housing growth.
Programs like the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) and Community Resilience Centers (CRC) already require participatory governance and community representation, ensuring that outreach reflects local culture and priorities
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Continue aligning housing and climate policy under cross-agency frameworks like the Strategic Growth Council’s (SGC) Housing, Climate, and Equity Resolution, which encourages joint planning among housing, transportation, and environmental agencies
Barrier 2: Infrastructure for Housing Access
New developments must provide for access to schools, parks, utilities, and transportation infrastructure, which can exacerbate tensions between green space conservation and density and require lengthy approval processes creating costs and delays.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
The Inland Empire is fast growing with different land use patterns, led or limited by market conditions. Infrastructure, like utility load capacity, limits local ability to plan and develop homes to keep up with population growth
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Integrate infrastructure planning into general plan and housing element updates, aligning growth areas with existing or planned energy and water capacity.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Streamline permitting and interconnection processes that stall energy and housing projects
The Go-Biz TED Task Force (Tracking Energy Development) was cited as a state-level best practice for identifying infrastructure bottlenecks and coordinating permitting solutions for large-scale energy and housing-related projects
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Expand investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure to accommodate population and housing growth in the inland empire.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Coordinate energy planning with land use policy, ensuring that CPUC, CEC, and LCI collaborate on regional energy forecasts and siting for housing-ready infrastructure.
Barrier 3: Financing
Affordable housing developments require complex financing involving multiple funding sources, tax credits, and subsidies, creating lengthy development timelines. Limited federal and state affordable housing funds mean projects compete intensely for financing. Funding awards come with too many additional requirements.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts
Affordable housing projects face complex, fragmented funding structures that require braiding together tax credits, subsidies, and multiple grants—each with its own timelines, reviews, and requirements. This patchwork system creates excessive administrative burdens and delays, making it difficult for local organizations and developers to efficiently access or combine funds.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Develop collaborative funding vehicles to support housing.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Establish regional coordination mechanisms to build pipelines of investable housing projects. By pre-identifying priority projects, pooling resources, and coordinating applications across multiple funding sources, regional entities can reduce redundancy, avoid competition between jurisdictions, and strengthen the case for combined state–federal investment.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Combine and align funding streams.
SGC’s Housing, Climate, and Equity Resolution calls for the seven member agencies (including Housing, Transportation, and Environmental Protection) to better coordinate and “make it easier for folks applying for those funds to not have to go to multiple different sources to stack together the resources you need to develop your project”
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Trust and flexibility in funding design. There is a need need for “more trust of local communities to administer the funds in the way that they know will actually benefit their communities,” particularly when grants are meant to foster innovation or experimentation in affordable housing finance.
Barrier 4. Wealth Gap
The growing wealth gap and social inequities underlying housing access and affordability issues
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts
Retrofits of older or inefficient homes—such as energy or seismic upgrades—are essential for meeting climate and safety goals but can unintentionally trigger renter displacement or rent increases if not paired with strong tenant protections and community reinvestment measures. In some areas, landlords have used “climate upgrades” as a pretext for evictions despite rent control protections, highlighting the need to align retrofit programs with anti-displacement policies.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
In the Inland Empire, the region’s rapid population and job growth has not been matched by sufficient local housing development, resulting in long commutes and a widening jobs–housing imbalance.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Construction/Installation/Procurement )
Establish local contractor and workforce pipelines so retrofits are performed by trusted, community-based workers—reducing exploitation risk and keeping economic benefits local
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Address regulatory and political barriers through community engagement and “pro-housing” messaging, countering local resistance to infill or higher-density projects near employment centers.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Leverage CBOs and regional partnerships to connect eligible residents with retrofit incentives while monitoring for displacement impacts.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Pair retrofit and rehabilitation programs with strong tenant protection and anti-displacement requirements. State-supported policy frameworks should ensure that rental retrofit projects include no-displacement provisions, right-to-return guarantees, and rent stabilization or rent-increase limits tied to state-funded upgrades.
The Community Energy Partners / CEC retrofit initiative in the Inland Empire, which includes a local trade ally network and a consumer protection framework, was cited as a promising model for equitable decarbonization
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Support regional coordination to align economic development, housing production, and climate resilience to reduce commute distances and emissions
IEGO’s inclusive economic development initiative under California Jobs First—a state-funded, cross-sector partnership focused on aligning economic and housing investments to support local workers—is another example of progress toward regional housing–jobs balance
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Develop community-based rebuilding programs. Several participants recommended state investment in “rebuild-with-community” programs, modeled after Habitat for Humanity, that would both improve housing conditions and maintain community ownership. These programs could channel climate funding toward resident-led rehabilitation instead of speculative redevelopment.
IEGO’s inclusive economic development initiative under California Jobs First—a state-funded, cross-sector partnership focused on aligning economic and housing investments to support local workers—is another example of progress toward regional housing–jobs balance
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Strengthen oversight and consumer protection standards within state-funded retrofit programs to prevent exploitative contracting and ensure that low-income tenants and homeowners receive transparent cost and benefit information.
IEGO’s inclusive economic development initiative under California Jobs First—a state-funded, cross-sector partnership focused on aligning economic and housing investments to support local workers—is another example of progress toward regional housing–jobs balance
Barrier 5: Climate Resilient Housing
The growing wealth gap and social inequities underlying housing access and affordability issues
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Extreme heat exacerbates the heat island effect and makes it hard to keep housing cool, and impacting health through heat illness and worsened air quality, especially in disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Launch retrofit campaigns targeting aging housing stock—focusing on cooling, electrification, and seismic upgrades in heat-vulnerable and wildfire-exposed areas. Local governments can prioritize heat-resilient improvements such as better insulation, reflective surfaces, and energy-efficient cooling systems, while packaging upgrades with no-cost or low-cost options to prevent rent pass-throughs and protect affordability.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Increase community education and engagement to implement air quality emergency communication plans.
Local health districts and CBOs—such as the Desert Healthcare District—are partnering with schools and growers to implement air quality emergency communication plans and ensure residents are warned during pollution or heat events
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Coordinate across sectors.Integrating public health, housing, and energy planning helps target interventions to the most heat-vulnerable neighborhoods.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Construction/Installation/Procurement )
Resilience retrofit initiatives for aging stock (cooling, electrification, seismic, wildfire-hardening) with cost-containment to avoid tenant pass-throughs.
The Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program (LCI) provides state-level funding for cooling infrastructure and local engagement projects, helping localities develop proactive adaptation measures
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Expand use of CARB’s air-quality and heat-mitigation grants in the inland empire to combat the effects of extreme heat. Participants cited these programs as opportunities to help fund cooling infrastructure, local air monitoring, and community resilience projects
CARB’s air-quality grant partnership with local organizations, used to implement school-based air quality and communication plans during burn or heat events, was cited as a model for public health collaboration
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Support education and outreach on heat illness prevention, indoor air filtration, and low-cost resilience strategies such as DIY air filters for schools and community centers.
Communities in the Inland Deserts face intensifying risks from extreme heat, wildfire, water scarcity, and poor air quality. Participants urged focusing on the “medium-term” (3–5 years) to implement actionable steps like improving cooling access, water efficiency, and wildfire recovery. At the same time, worsening grid disruptions from wildfire, PSPS events, and aging infrastructure threaten health and safety. In the Inland Empire, week-long outages have left residents without cooling during heat waves, and by 2050, wildfires could destroy key transmission corridors and reduce grid capacity by up to 20%.
Local solutions include cross-sector collaboration linking energy, housing, health, and land management. WRCOG’s Energy Resilience Plan and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ Energy Master Plan identify vulnerable energy corridors and advance microgrid feasibility for critical facilities. Tribal and rural communities are prioritizing solar, storage, and electrification upgrades through the Tribal Energy and Climate Collaborative (T6) to protect essential housing and services.
State agencies should invest in grid resilience and distributed energy systems, focusing on microgrids, community-scale solar, and undergrounding in wildfire-prone regions. Agencies like CPUC, CEC, and Go-Biz should coordinate funding and integrate wildfire, heat, and outage risks into the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) to strengthen statewide energy reliability and climate adaptation.
Barrier 1: Climate Vulnerability
Communities need to better understand and address both short-term, medium-term, and long-term climate impacts and challenges facing the regions like extreme heat, water scarcity, wildfires, and air quality.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
There is a need to understand and address both short-term, medium-term, and long-term climate impacts and challenges facing the Inland Deserts region. This includes looking at issues like extreme heat, water scarcity, wildfires, and air quality. There was a suggestion to focus more on the “medium-term” timeframe of 3-5 years to identify actionable steps.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Foster cross-sector and cross-boundary collaboration to integrate energy, housing, public health, and land management responses. Multi-stakeholder partnerships among agencies, land managers, NGOs, and residents can better coordinate recovery and resilience efforts—addressing cascading impacts such as poor air quality, extreme heat, and post-wildfire vulnerabilities that strain both communities and infrastructure.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
No results found.
Barrier 2: Energy Resilience
Wildfire, PSPS events, increasing capacity demands, and aging grid infrastructure are increasing the frequencies and severity of outages across CA communities, affecting health and safety, as well as affordability and economic stability.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts
Extreme heat, wildfire, and flooding are increasingly disrupting California’s power infrastructure, leading to widespread Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) and prolonged outages that endanger vulnerable residents. In the Inland Empire, stakeholders described week-long blackouts that halted local operations and left homes without air conditioning during dangerous heat waves. Regional studies by WRCOG found that transmission lines supplying cities pass through high wildfire threat districts—and by 2050, wildfires could destroy entire transmission corridors—while flooding and heat are projected to reduce grid capacity by up to 20%. These compounding risks underscore the urgency of integrating resilience and redundancy into energy systems to protect public health and community safety.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Target support for unincorporated and tribal areas – Local programs should prioritize resilience solutions (solar, storage, electrification upgrades) for communities most exposed to PSPS events and extreme heat
The Tribal Energy and Climate Collaborative (T6)—representing 25 Southern California tribes—is pooling grant resources to conduct feasibility studies for microgrids and clean energy systems to protect tribal housing and community facilities from outage-related risks
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Develop regional energy resilience plans.
1. Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) has an Energy Resilience Plan that identifies vulnerable energy supply corridors and socio-economic vulnerabilities in the region. The plan also includes microgrid feasibility studies for critical facilities across their member agencies. They plan to engage the community on design and services for resilience centers. 2. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians are developing a strategic energy master plan to address energy capacity, grid development, and microgrid implementation on their reservation.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Invest in grid resilience and distributed energy systems by prioritizing funding and technical support for microgrids, community-scale solar and battery storage, substation upgrades, and undergrounding of power lines in wildfire-prone areas. State agencies such as the CPUC, CEC, and Go-Biz should coordinate to strengthen local energy resilience and ensure communities can maintain essential services during grid disruptions.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Integrate climate risk and hazard vulnerability into energy and resilience planning. State agencies should align planning under the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) framework and embed wildfire, extreme heat, and outage risks directly into regulatory processes and funding criteria to ensure energy reliability, wildfire prevention, and heat adaptation are jointly addressed.
Permitting and siting for renewable projects remain slow and fragmented, with poor coordination across agencies and frequent local opposition. Developers face long delays and unclear communication, while residents struggle with overlapping incentive programs, high electricity costs, and limited data access. Workforce shortages and inconsistent codes further constrain implementation, especially in inland and rural areas.
Regional collaboration is helping bridge these gaps. COGs, tribes, and RENs like IREN are sharing staff and expertise to streamline permitting and strengthen workforce training. Programs such as the Bassett Avocado AEC Pilot and South Coast AQMD’s Go Zero simplify incentives for low-income residents, while Palm Springs and Colton lead energy-efficiency and electrification retrofits. Local agencies are also piloting secure data-sharing portals and advocating for transparency to support better energy planning.
State agencies should expand coordination through Go-Biz’s TED Task Force, accelerate approvals with CEQA streamlining, and integrate rebate and incentive programs across CEC, CPUC, and CARB. Scaling affordability programs, retrofit funding, and workforce pipelines—along with improving data transparency and code modernization—will make clean energy deployment faster, fairer, and more cost-effective statewide.
Barrier 1: Siting and Permitting
Siting, planning, and deciding on utility-scale energy infrastructure projects lacks transparency and alignment with societal needs, and faces community resistance in some areas, often those most remote
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Lack of coordination and communication between the multiple agencies involved in permitting renewable energy projects, which contributes to long delays and uncertainty for developers and local governments.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Participate in statewide coordination efforts.
Local permitting agencies can engage with Go-Biz’s permitting toolkit development to align their processes with state best practices.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Improve coordination and communication between different agencies involved in the permitting process for renewable energy projects.
Go-Biz established the Tracking Energy Development (TED) Task Force—bringing together the CEC, CPUC, CAISO, and Go-Biz—to identify barriers and improve interagency collaboration. A major finding was that local jurisdictions often lack permitting transparency and alignment, causing delays even after state contracts are signed. The TED Task Force is working under a 2021 Executive Order to better align permitting and tracking among state energy agencies to prevent future grid reliability crises.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Build regional permitting capacity. Councils of Governments (COGs), tribes, and RENs (like IREN) can share expertise and staff across jurisdictions to help review renewable energy applications more efficiently.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Gather more detailed feedback from local jurisdictions and developers on the specific pain points in the permitting process to inform the development of Go-Biz’s guidebook and toolkit.
Funded by the 2022–2023 Budget Act, Go-Biz received $11 million to create standardized best practices, “increase transparency and alignment of local jurisdiction permitting processes,” and reduce barriers for renewable project deployment
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Expand judicial streamlining.
LCI’s CEQA judicial streamlining program—recently expanded to cover clean energy infrastructure—reduces litigation-related permitting delays from “three to five years down to nine months,” while maintaining environmental review standards
Barrier 2: Assistance Coordination
Making home decarbonization retrofits affordable necessitates a more coordinated effort to use all capital and programmatic options
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts, San Diego
Households and small businesses face confusion and barriers due to siloed and overlapping incentive programs for energy efficiency, electrification, water conservation, and resilience. With each program operating separately and offering different eligibility rules, timelines, and application processes, participants struggle to access the full stack of available benefits. Without dedicated guidance or technical assistance, many eligible residents and businesses miss out on incentives or abandon upgrades due to program complexity.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Integrate and simplify access to water, energy, and resilience incentives through user-friendly tools and “concierge” technical assistance (TA) services. Agencies and local governments should coordinate and stack funding sources behind the scenes so residents and small businesses can access a single, streamlined rebate or direct-install service. Expanding local incentive integration efforts—such as bundled programs or AI-driven platforms that match applicants with the full range of benefits—can reduce complexity, lower administrative barriers, and make multi-benefit upgrades more accessible and equitable.
1. South Coast Air Quality Management District is focusing on reducing ozone emissions and particulate matter by controlling NOx emissions, working on regulations to require zero emission space and water heating technologies, and will launch a Go Zero program in early 2025 to help bridge the cost barrier for zero emission transitions. The program will target overburdened communities with rebates, stack incentives, and assistance on finding funding. 2. Basset Avocado Advanced Energy Community Pilot – Provides comprehensive homeowner navigation for retrofit incentives and code compliance; participants recommended replication across the region.3. Silicon Valley Clean Energy has a one-on-one “concierge service” model to navigate incentives and retrofits.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Build cross-program referral systems between IREN, GRID Alternatives, AQMD, and utility incentive programs to make it easier for participants to combine rebates, loans, and grants.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Integrate and streamline state incentive programs by coordinating across agencies such as the CEC, CPUC, and CARB to enable stacking and aggregation of funding behind the scenes. State policy should ensure residents receive a single, streamlined rebate or payment rather than navigating multiple disconnected programs, reducing administrative burden and improving participation in energy and climate upgrades.
Barrier 3: Residential Decarbonization and Affordability
Residential energy bills are increasing, making electrification initiatives more difficult, and CA lacks a coordinated strategy to address the root issues of system costs that impact the trajectory of rates while protecting energy efficiency programs that help lower customer costs.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts, San Diego
Retrofitting California’s older housing stock is a major challenge for electrification and resilience. In regions like San Diego—where most of the 800,000 buildings built before 1978 are ill-equipped for upgrades—homes often require extensive pre-work such as roofing repairs, panel and insulation upgrades, or appliance replacements before heat pumps and other zero-emission technologies can be installed. Each building’s unique conditions make retrofits costly and highly individualized, creating stacked barriers for low- and moderate-income homeowners. Local energy and air-quality agencies in the Inland Empire have emphasized that the transition to zero-emission housing must prioritize affordability and equity to ensure retrofit programs reduce, rather than reinforce, existing economic divides.
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts, San Diego
High and rising electricity costs are discouraging household electrification and slowing residential decarbonization. Despite available incentives, many Californians hesitate to switch from gas to electric systems because electricity rates—driven upward by costly utility infrastructure investments and overspending—are among the highest in the nation, while gas remains comparatively cheap. As a result, about one-third of households that electrify face higher utility bills. Stakeholders also noted that energy efficiency programs, which can reduce overall energy demand and costs, remain undervalued despite their proven cost-effectiveness.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
While several energy programs are available to support home retrofits and electrification, residents face confusion, trust barriers, and communication gaps that limit participation—especially in disadvantaged communities.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Local municipal utilities struggle to manage energy affordability amid volatile fuel markets, post-COVID supply chain disruptions, and state-mandated energy transitions. The City of Colton’s electric utility saw power supply costs jump from $1 million to $5 million per month, requiring a 40% rate increase to cover these costs. Tools for power cost adjustments are needed to maintain affordability.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
There are concerns about the emissions that are going to come from new housing development. Without careful planning and updated building standards, new development could deepen the Inland Empire’s emissions burden through increased car dependence, fossil-fuel-based appliances, and construction-related pollution. Given the Inland Empire’s topography—where pollutants get trapped by surrounding mountains—expanding housing without decarbonization measures threatens to exacerbate both public health risks and climate impacts.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Construction/Installation/Procurement )
Incorporate energy efficiency measures in older buildings (e.g., retrofits for roofs, appliances, insulation).
1. Watts Rising and Habitat for Humanity whose programs are addressing structural building needs and going beyond basic energy saving upgrades. 2. The City of Palm Springs is exploring ways to assist multi-family developments with energy efficiency upgrades and provide more affordable options for low-income residents to access decarbonization measures. Extreme heat and climate impacts are disproportionately affecting low-income and disadvantaged communities in the Coachella Valley, leading to high energy costs and health issues. Many residents in the Coachella Valley have fixed or single incomes, making it difficult to afford rising energy costs, especially during the hot summer months.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Leverage partnerships with local organizations which provide technical assistance, local contractors, and workforce pipelines for home energy upgrades.
1. GRID Alternatives “Communities in Charge” program demonstrates how equity-focused engagement and local contractor partnerships can build community confidence in energy transitions. IREN Programs. 2. The Desert Healthcare District is partnering with community organizations to address air quality and provide in-home interventions.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Use Regional Energy Networks (RENs)—to implement locally tailored, demand-side programs that reduce regional energy burden.
Inland Regional Energy Network (IREN) – has a successful model for bringing energy efficiency programs to hard-to-reach communities and demonstrating the economic value of localized demand reduction
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Promote public education and engagement on energy efficiency as an affordability strategy, not just an environmental one, helping residents understand the direct financial benefits.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Create and continue community-centered programming that focuses on comfort, health, and cost savings.
City of Colton's municipal utility maintains energy efficiency and weatherization programs that may not maximize state-reported savings, but better serve their low-income, high-need customer base.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Target cost barriers through direct incentives and rebates.
The South Coast AQMD Go Zero Program (launching 2025) will dedicate $21 million in mitigation funds to cover technology conversion costs, prioritizing overburdened communities and pairing rebates with installer training and outreach
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Expand affordability-focused programs that provide direct financial support for low- and middle-income and tribal households. The State should scale initiatives that subsidize utility bills, offer targeted rebates, and cover up-front retrofit and electrification costs—such as for heat pump installations—to make efficient options accessible year-round and during emergencies. Providing statewide subsidies, not just rebates, can help ensure affordability and resilience for vulnerable households.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Protect and reinvest in energy efficiency programs that reduce consumption, lower bills, and provide broad system benefits. For every dollar invested in efficiency, Californians realize roughly four dollars in returns through reduced energy demand, lower infrastructure costs, and avoided generation buildout. Continued investment in energy efficiency—alongside electrification—is essential to maintain affordability and advance decarbonization cost-effectively.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Develop a coordinated statewide affordability and reliability strategy that links decarbonization goals with household protections from rising energy costs. This framework should align policies across the CPUC, CEC, and investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to ensure unified energy planning that avoids redundant or conflicting infrastructure investments. By integrating affordability, reliability, and decarbonization, the State can protect consumers while advancing a just and efficient energy transition.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Integrate communication and trust-building components into all state energy programs. Local residents respond better to culturally competent, community-based messengers, not anonymous online portals.
Barrier 9: Workforce
The market of qualified workers necessary to construct and install clean energy projects and retrofits is not large enough, especially outside of major urban centers.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
The need to build local government capacity and workforce expertise in energy efficiency, building code implementation, and public sector sustainability projects—a gap that the Inland Regional Energy Network (I-REN) is actively addressing.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Invest in workforce transition programs. Agencies emphasized training programs “in every one of the communities,” especially for heat pump installation, to ensure that local workers—not just external contractors—benefit from the clean energy shift
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Leverage fellows to advance city projects—such as greenhouse gas inventories, energy audits, or building retrofits—while simultaneously training the next generation of local energy professionals.
I-REN focuses on public sector programs, building code enhancement, and workforce development in the Inland Empire. IREN launched its fellowship program dedicated to building capacity and energy comprehension within local public agencies in 2023. In 2024, it has placed 25 fellowship interns in the Inland Empire for energy efficiency projects.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Integrate workforce development and code compliance assistance into all state energy programs to ensure long-term local implementation capacity.
Barrier 5: Data Access
California lacks consistent access to data about consumption, energy supply infrastructure, and other information that can inform CAPs, capital projects, and cost affordability impact analyses.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
The limited visibility utilities and planners have into local distribution systems, which constrains efforts to plan for electrification, microgrids, and renewable integration. Improving data sharing from customers and distributed energy users was identified as critical for better understanding real-time grid conditions.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Local governments, developers, and planners lack sufficient access to customer-level energy data, which limits their ability to plan for electrification, distributed energy resources, and resilience infrastructure—largely due to strict data privacy rules and fragmented utility policies.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Educate communities about the benefits and safeguards of data sharing to build trust and encourage voluntary participation.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Collaborate with utilities to pilot secure data-sharing portals where anonymized load data can inform building electrification and grid modernization plans.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Engage in policy advocacy through Councils of Governments (COGs) and regional energy networks (RENs) to support state-level reforms that balance privacy with transparency.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Provide accessible state datasets – Agencies should centralize and release standardized datasets on energy use, utility infrastructure, and climate impacts for local governments to apply in CAPs
CEC’s expanded authority on local energy data and planning is a positive step toward enabling data-sharing and cross-agency coordination on local distribution challenges
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Consider legislative or regulatory approaches to make it easier for local agencies and developers to access customer energy data while addressing privacy concerns.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Explore ways to incentivize or provide incentives for customers to share their energy usage data to improve distribution system visibility.
Go-Biz’s cross-agency coordination through the Tracking Energy Development (TED) Task Force—which includes CPUC, CEC, and CAISO—was cited as a promising model for linking data transparency, permitting reform, and system visibility
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Develop standardized consent mechanisms, such as digital waivers or automatic opt-ins for customers participating in state incentive programs, reducing administrative burden.
Barrier 6: Codes and Standards
Adopting reach codes can be highly political and result in legal challenges, and now face legislated moratorium.
Key Challenges Identified
No results found.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Adopt local ordinances and reach codes that require or incentivize solar installations, cool roofs, and other energy-efficient upgrades.
City of Colton’s retrofit program: Uses federal Community Development Block Grant funds to make existing and mobile homes more efficient and livable for low-income residents, linking affordability with sustainability
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
No results found.
Transportation is the largest emissions source in Palm Springs, where extreme heat makes walking, biking, and transit difficult. EV adoption and charging infrastructure in the Inland Southern California desert region remain far below the state average, reflecting climate, geographic, and equity gaps. Without better grid and battery integration, electrification’s resilience potential is underused.
Palm Springs is expanding public EV chargers—many city-owned and located in disadvantaged neighborhoods—and partnering with retail sites to grow access. The city is also studying shade and heat impacts to design cooler, walkable routes and prioritize charging equity by placing stations near homes and gathering areas.
The state should expand EV infrastructure funding, workforce training, and heat-adaptive mobility research, while improving rebate outreach through CSE and CEC programs. Equity-focused funding under the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and Communities in Charge can help direct investments to underserved desert and tribal communities.
Barrier 1: Transportation Electrification
Emission reductions in many communities requires accelerating transportation decarbonization including fleet electrification, EV charging infrastructure but without coordinated battery management and integration with buildings and the grid, their resilience and energy potential remain underutilized.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Transportation is the single largest contributor to Palm Springs’ greenhouse gas emissions, and addressing this requires both infrastructure and behavioral strategies to promote clean mobility under extreme climate conditions. Palm Springs’ geography and extreme heat create added challenges for mode shifts, as walking, biking, and transit use become difficult during long periods of 110°F+ temperatures
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts
Electric vehicle (EV) adoption and charging infrastructure in the Inland Southern California desert region remain well below the state average, reflecting geographic and equity disparities in clean transportation investment.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Integrate active transportation with heat adaptation.
Palm Springs received a grant to study the impact of heat and shade on transportation, which will inform infrastructure design, such as shaded walkways and cooling corridors, to make walking and biking viable even in hot months.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Integrate charging equity into local climate and mobility plans, ensuring chargers are installed where residents live and gather, not just along highways.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Expand public EV charging infrastructure.
Palm Springs operates roughly half of all publicly accessible chargers in the city, many of them city-owned or operated through license agreements with private firms. These chargers are strategically located in disadvantaged neighborhoods and public parking areas to encourage more electric vehicle (EV) trips and reduce fossil fuel dependency.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Engage private sector partners to expand EV charging network.
The city of Palm Springs is exploring partnerships with retail centers, grocery stores, and other destinations to host chargers, creating a more distributed and convenient network for EV users
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Prioritize equity metrics that direct rebates and charging investments to areas with high pollution burdens and low EV ownership rates.
1. The Center for Sustainable Energy’s public dashboards tracking EV incentives and charger installations statewide, which help local agencies see where funding has (and hasn’t) flowed, providing a data-driven foundation for equitable infrastructure planning. 2. “Communities in Charge” Level 2 charging program—administered by CalSTART and funded by CEC—was highlighted as an example of how targeted programs can expand charging access in disadvantaged and tribal communities when equity metrics are applied
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Expand outreach and awareness programs, ensuring residents know about existing rebate opportunities and charging incentives administered by CSE and the California Energy Commission.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Target incentives to underserved desert regions by allocating a higher share of funds to Inland Empire and Coachella Valley communities under programs like CSE’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and Communities in Charge.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Provide technical and financial support for EV charging reliability, workforce development for charger maintenance, and research on climate-adaptive transportation infrastructure (e.g., shade, cooling, and materials design).
Marginalized communities, tribes, and small local governments remain underrepresented in climate planning. Engagement often ends at one-way consultations, with the same few individuals repeatedly invited, leading to fatigue, mistrust, and limited influence on decision-making.
Locals should work through trusted intermediaries—like CBOs, tribal councils, and universities—to co-design outreach and research. The Fifth Climate Change Assessment’s Inland Deserts Advisory Group offers a model for pairing science with community storytelling. Local governments can serve as translators, ensuring multilingual communication and elevating community priorities in state processes.
State agencies should fund sustained, community-led partnerships with resources for translation and stipends, and embed inclusive engagement frameworks across all programs so tribes and underrepresented communities share leadership in climate and energy planning.
Barrier 1: Representation and Inclusion
Systemic inequities and power dynamics—such as privileging academic credentials over lived experience, relying on the same few individuals, or pursuing symbolic rather than genuine participation—undermine authentic, diverse, and trusted community involvement in decision-making.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts
Despite broad recognition of the need for inclusive climate action, marginalized communities, tribes, and smaller local governments remain underrepresented in planning and decision-making. Engagement efforts often stop at one-way consultations rather than fostering sustained, co-created partnerships—limiting trust, cultural relevance, and the effectiveness of state-led programs. Participants noted that certain ethnic groups remain “horribly underrepresented” in key meetings, with the same few individuals repeatedly invited, leading to fatigue and perpetuating inequities in representation and influence.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Serve as connectors between state programs and residents by maintaining open, multilingual communication channels and elevating community priorities in state-level planning.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Develop regional advisory structures that ensure ongoing input from underrepresented voices.
Fifth Climate Change Assessment – Inland Deserts Region: A model for participatory engagement that combines scientific research with locally led advisory groups and storytelling events to center lived experience
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Community Program Implementation )
Leverage trusted intermediaries like local CBOs, tribal councils, and academic partners (e.g., UC Riverside, Alianza Coachella in the inland empire) to co-design outreach activities and research.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Fund and invest in long-term, community-centered partnerships—beyond one-time events or grant cycles—to strengthen trust and collaboration between agencies, local governments, and community-based organizations (CBOs). Sustained relationship-building should include dedicated resources for translation, stipends, and culturally appropriate engagement, ensuring that partnerships remain continuous, equitable, and grounded in local priorities.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Empower local governments as “translators.” Participants highlighted that cities and counties can bridge “state resources with community needs” by contextualizing policies, grants, and data in locally relevant ways—a key role in building trust and facilitating two-way communication.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Institutionalize inclusive engagement frameworks across all climate and energy programs, following models from the Fifth Assessment that embed tribal consultation and marginalized community leadership in every phase of research and planning.
Grant applications are overly complex and fragmented, overwhelming under-resourced local governments and CBOs. High match requirements, duplicative reporting, and inconsistent rules drain limited staff capacity and discourage participation. Fragmented state programs and overlapping technical assistance create confusion and inequitable access.
Regional collaboration helps ease the burden. Cities, COGs, tribes, and nonprofits can co-apply, share staff, and align projects to meet multiple agency goals. Tools like Lift to Rise’s Capital Absorption Framework and WRCOG’s Project Pipeline Portal show how shared databases and project pipelines improve visibility and funding readiness.
The state should streamline applications through a unified process, reduce reporting requirements, and create flexible, tiered grants that help smaller organizations move from planning to implementation. Programs like SGC’s Boost and Connecting Communities build local capacity, while initiatives such as the CEQA Mitigation Bank and Climate Resiliency Project Registry can connect ready projects with new funding sources.
Barrier 1: Application Burden & Accessibility
Competitive public grant applications are overly complex, confusing, and inflexible pass/failprocesses that are oversubscribed with little standardization, extracting limited organizational capacity that could be used for action while creating prohibitively high costs and low success probabilities that discourage resource-constrained organizations from attempting to apply.
Key Challenges Identified
Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles, Inland Deserts, San Diego
State funding and technical assistance (TA) programs remain highly fragmented and siloed across multiple agencies, creating inefficiencies, confusion, and inequitable access for local governments and community organizations. Despite expanded opportunities through measures like Proposition 4, funding mechanisms, eligibility rules, timelines, and reporting requirements remain misaligned, leading to duplication of efforts and missed opportunities for community-led innovation. Overlapping TA programs further compound the problem, forcing applicants to navigate inconsistent systems rather than receiving coordinated, streamlined support.
Key challenge discussed in - Inland Deserts, San Diego
State and federal grant application processes remain overly burdensome, competitive, and inflexible—disadvantaging under-resourced communities and small local governments. Time-intensive applications, duplicative reporting, inconsistent program rules, and high local match requirements overwhelm limited staff capacity and make it extremely difficult to stack or braid funding sources. Applicants often invest significant time and money into complex, low-success-rate applications, diverting scarce resources away from implementation and reinforcing inequities between well-staffed agencies and smaller jurisdictions or CBOs.
Local Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Engage in state agency feedback processes to shape future reforms, including ongoing guideline updates for programs like the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) and Community Resilience Centers (CRC)
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Develop shared regional project databases that map funding needs, project readiness, and sectoral priorities.
1. Lift to Rise’s Capital Absorption Framework – Aligns regional partners around shared goals, aggregates a cross-sector project queue, and integrates pre-development loans to accelerate funding access. 2. WRCOG’s Regional Project Pipeline Portal – A digital tool mapping investable projects across jurisdictions, improving visibility for funders and technical assistance providers
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Engage in cross-sector partnerships—between cities, COGs, tribes, and nonprofits—to package community-led projects that meet multiple state agency objectives (e.g., air quality, land use, housing, resilience).
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
Local Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Planning/Land Use )
Collaborate regionally on funding applications to reduce redundancy and share administrative capacity across jurisdictions.
State Solution Opportunities
Inland Desert stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Streamline and simplify applications and reporting through a faster, common-application model. Pilot a unified application within SGC—then scale statewide—to reduce administrative burden, improve visibility into opportunities and unfunded proposals, and create a more accessible, transparent funding system.
SGC and its Connecting Communities Initiative are exploring ways to reduce these administrative burdens while increasing access for under-resourced communities
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Direct state funding toward equitable, community-driven infrastructure planning and upgrades in rural and tribal communities—such as water and energy systems—to strengthen local climate resilience.
State agencies like the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) are advancing place-based funding through the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) and Community Resilience Centers (CRC) programs, both of which require collaborative governance structures with CBO and resident representation. These programs prioritize under-resourced and tribal communities, including projects in Anza (Cahuilla Band of Indians), Banning, Adelanto, and Coachella
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Provide flexible, early-stage capital and grant structures that enable local organizations to scope, design, and test community-driven projects before full grant cycles open. Establish tiered funding pathways—from planning to readiness to implementation—to support continuous project development and ensure smaller or emerging organizations can build capacity and compete for larger opportunities over time.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Support scalable regional project pipelines through multi-year funding that combines technical assistance, pre-development loans, and implementation grants.
California Jobs First (Inland Region) – Demonstrates how state investment in inclusive economic development can be paired with local technical capacity to scale project readiness.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Connect underfunded local projects with developers or private investors seeking mitigation opportunities, expanding access to non-grant capital sources.
1. CEQA Mitigation Bank (under LCI’s EO N-224-23 directive) – A new mechanism connecting developers’ mitigation payments to a curated list of shovel-ready, unfunded projects statewide, improving resource efficiency and expanding access to nontraditional funding sources. 2. California Carbon Sequestration and Climate Resiliency Project Registry (SB 27, 2021) – A model for integrating grant applicants who were not selected into a publicly accessible registry that can attract both public and private investment
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Program Implementation and Outreach )
Expand technical assistance and capacity-building programs
SGC’s Boost Program and Connecting Communities Initiative, which help under-resourced agencies hire staff, develop competitive proposals, and access federal and state climate funds
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Align and coordinate state funding programs across agencies (SGC, CARB, LCI, CNRA, CEC) to reduce duplication and administrative burden.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Use the California Climate Assessment data to inform equitable investment decisions and prioritize funding for communities most vulnerable to climate impacts.
Local or State
Solution
Existing Examples of Progress
Further Progress Pathways
State Solution
(Type of Activity: Policy/Regulation )
Create flexible funding mechanisms—such as multi-purpose or trust-based grants—that support innovation and community-led approaches without rigid eligibility constraints.
On July 31, 2024, Governor Newsom issued a new executive order (N-2-24) to accelerate and streamline infill development projects to transform undeveloped and underutilized properties statewide into livable and affordable housing for Californians. This session seeks to gather input from Tribes, local and regional governments, and advocacy organizations on processes, permits, and other administrative actions that can be adjusted to create flexibility and lower the per-unit cost of infill housing.
Sean Kennedy, Deputy Director of Energy Investments, CA Strategic Growth Council
Clay Kerchof, Climate & Transportation Section Chief, CA Department of Housing & Community Development
Tawny Macedo, Housing Policy Manager, CA Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency
Aaron Savage, Associate Planner, Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation
This session will provide an overview of the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program climate resilience research portfolio and tools, and funding programs including future opportunities through the 2024 Climate Bond. Presentations will include updates on California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment research portfolio, featuring the Tribal Research Program and examples from the Inland Desert Regional Synthesis Report Author Team; an overview of climate services tools and data resources to support planning and decision-making; and a presentation on SGC’s Community Resilience Centers and Transformative Climate Communities Programs. The teams welcome open discussion and Q&A
Elea Becker Lowe, Ben McMahan and Bryce Lewis-Smith, Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation
Sarah Newsham and Jessica Cervantes, CA Strategic Growth Council
Regional Challenges to Renewable Energy Deployment
This session will briefly present two state-level climate planning efforts and seeks local input that will help inform each. First, the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI), formerly the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), is beginning its periodic update of the General Plan Guidelines (Guidelines). The Guidelines serve as the “how to” document for cities and counties drafting or updating their general plans. One of LCI’s central goals in this newest update is to incorporate climate throughout, from land use to circulation. Second, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is seeking initial input at the onset of the State’s Comprehensive Climate Action Plan under the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program. Both agencies would like to hear from representatives from the Inland Empire about their climate impact concerns, climate mitigation priorities, how climate planning is being or might be integrated into general plans, and any region-specific barriers or opportunities that have arisen inplanning or other processes.
Sarah Jo Szambelan, CA Air Resources Board
Nils Jepson, CA Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation
This region-led knowledge exchange breakout at REACH IE featured:
Kara Crohn, Director, Transparency & Insights, Center for Sustainable Energy
Norah Kyassa, Clean Mobility Program Specialist, GRID Alternatives
Lindsey-Paige McCloy, Director, City of Palm Springs, Office of Sustainability
Key best practices include:
City of Palm Springs’s Climate Action Roadmap identified that transportation makes up largest single share of its emissions. They are providing city-owned chargers to increase EV trips. Received a grant to study how heat and shade impact transportation.
Center for Sustainable Energy is tracking EV and EV charging incentives in Inland SoCal, which illustrates that desert regions are underserved.
Grid Alternatives Community’s In Charge Program is helping identify eligible local and tribal project sites to apply for charger rebates
The Real Drivers of the Energy Affordability Crisis
This region-led knowledge exchange breakout at REACH IE featured:
Karen Woodard, Realty/Planning Administrator, Morongo Band of Mission Indians
Daniel Soltero, Program Manager, Energy, WRCOG
Alejandro Espinosa, Chief of Community Engagement, Desert Healthcare District
Who was there?
1
People Attended
1
Community-Serving Organizations
Organization Types
Thank you to the following organizations as well as other state agencies for their support on this event:
Special thanks to our other planning partners, including from the Coachella Valley Association of Governments and the Southern California Association of Governments.
REACH is presented by:
Are you interested in partnering with us on this or future events?
Contact us at eecoordinator@civicwell.org.
