State legislation and policy pathways like SB 852 Climate Resilience Districts (2022) allow cities, counties, special districts, or combinations of these entities to form CRDs specifically for climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience projects.

The Cities of San Diego and Sunnyvale include an adoptable implementation workplan and budget along with their CAP to gain internal buy-in and investment.

Various types of climate collaboratives have emerged throughout the state. San Mateo County’s Regional Integrated Climate Action Planning Support (RICAPS) model and Sonoma County’s RCPA are coordinating implementation and grant applications across multiple jurisdictions.

The recently reauthorized Cap-and-Invest provides approximately $4B/year the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which funds multiple programs through CARB’s CA Climate Investments that can help a local community reduce emissions including over a billion dollars in investments in housing, transit and infill emission reduction projects through SGC’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities and Transformative Climate Communities Grants.

UCLA’s Energy Atlas partners with Regional Energy Networks to Provide Access to Energy Data

The Bay Area Energy Atlas—one of the nation’s most comprehensive energy tools—has been revamped with new features, expanded data, and a more user-friendly interface. Developed by UCLA in partnership with BayREN, the Atlas helps users explore regional energy use through interactive maps and detailed building data. From policymakers to curious residents, anyone can now dive deeper into energy trends by city, building type, or time period. New tools make it easier to compare communities and visualize consumption with monthly data through 2021.

https://lnkd.in/gYtNyeAg

State support for UC Berkeley’s GHG Inventory Tool

The CoolClimate Network at UC Berkeley is developing a data platform for GHG inventories and climate action metrics for local governments across California. The project was presented at CCEC 2024 and 2025 to gather input from participants. The outputs available to cities and counties (unincorporated counties are in the works) include traditional and consumption based inventories from 2010-2022. They also feature tangible metrics such as EV registrations with the DMV and heat pumps installed through TECH incentives. These detailed metrics are more informative and actionable for implementation than overall GHG emissions. They enable local governments to set concrete targets and tell compelling stories about climate action, benefits, and potential impacts in their communities. The emphasis on these metrics reflects the emerging trends of climate action practice, which seeks to be more relatable to people and integrated with equitable community benefits. 

The climate action data tool allows local governments to more efficiently conduct GHG inventories and evolve their climate action efforts and communications to focus on community benefits. The practice of local government climate action was originally established in the mid 2000’s in response to a lack of federal leadership. The current context calls us not only to continue but become more effective while delivering quantifiable social benefits and having the metrics to tell compelling stories.

CARB staff and contractors participate in the project’s advisory group and are evaluating whether this tool will meet the needs of local governments. 

Monterey Bay Maximizes Regional Capacity in Award Winning Natural and Working Lands Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Study

Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) and Ascent for winning this year’s Resilience and Sustainability Merit Award for the Monterey Bay Natural and Working Lands Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Study.

The Monterey Bay Natural and Working Lands Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Study is the first comprehensive carbon sequestration analysis at a regional scale. Its innovative approach combines GIS modeling with extensive stakeholder engagement, creating a uniquely collaborative and data-driven framework. A comprehensive list of strategies and actions were identified to support carbon sequestration efforts that are scientifically sound and practically viable, making them implementable within the context of the Monterey Bay Area and its local agencies.

The Monterey Bay Natural and Working Lands Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Study analyzes carbon sequestration potential across Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties, offering strategies to enhance carbon storage, climate resilience, and sustainable land management in urban, forest, and agricultural areas through stakeholder collaboration and innovative GIS modeling.

“A key takeaway of this study is that we need to foster regional collaboration in order to implement innovative solutions at the scale needed to protect and enhance the carbon sequestration potential of our natural and working lands.”

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Community-Based Organization Partnerships to Bolster Local Climate Action Planning

The Cities of Alameda and Petaluma utilized community partners in the development and ongoing implementation of their climate action plans. In 2025, Alameda updated their Climate Action & Resilience Plan partnering with Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda. In 2024, Petaluma adopted their Blueprint for Climate Action organizing community leadership through the Climate Action Commission’s two different types of local leadership, city government and community members, and how they work together to achieve climate goals. Alameda and Petaluma partnered with community organizations to tap into diverse networks and experiences within their cities. The partners each city worked with include members representing other local and regional organizations, which allowed them to share a broad cross-section of the community and raise traditionally marginalized perspectives and experiences. Including these partners in implementation creates a framework to realize climate planning objectives equitably across the community.

This model showcases how city climate goals are achieved through community-focused implementation. It highlights how local community partnerships can guide city planning and implementation processes and how cities incorporate existing community efforts and frameworks. Partnering with community leaders allowed these cities to commit to bold climate action despite capacity constraints and competing priorities. This model demonstrates how to adopt a community partnership model that expands a city’s reach, leverages community knowledge, and aligns community efforts with city structures and climate goals.

Continued Efforts to Advance Greater State-Local Coordination

In 2022, CARB’s Sustainable Transportation and Communities Division approached CCEC to support engagement on its Local Actions Appendix of the 2022 Scoping Plan Update, which sets measures and targets for the State’s emission reduction goals. Following those discussions, CARB was interested in working with CCEC to conduct listening sessions designed to deepen the valuable collaboration between CARB and local government practitioners responsible for developing and implementing local climate action plans and strategies. The objective was to help inform CARB’s plans for potential future programs and services that can help local governments more successfully advance substantial emission reduction strategies within communities. Across three additional meetings, approximately 150 participants identified the most pressing barriers and needs facing local governments in implementing emission reduction measures and explored possible State-led support and solutions. The majority of attendees represented local government, many of which are primarily responsible for or actively working on local planning efforts within California communities. 

Potential “fundamental principles” around State-local climate action coordination  At a SLECC meeting in 2024, Cory Downs from Chula Vista proposed the following principles to help advance state and local coordination on climate action.  – Local government actions are essential to meeting the State’s emission reduction targets and to protecting communities from the worst impacts of climate change. – CA should not expect or require each local government to do a climate action plan, but we should support those that wish to do one. – Local climate action plans are a way to conduct analysis that can garner equitable engagement, public and political support, and justify local funding and staff capacity to implement a custom set of beneficial emission reduction strategies to meet targets, which can serve as state pilots. Those that wish to adopt a CEQA-qualified CAP may need guidance.  – A key barrier local communities face is access to data for GHG inventories. Local governments cannot solve this problem individually, we need state leadership.

While resources like CARB’s Local Actions Appendix can be useful to guide the development of broader GHG mitigation efforts, participants would appreciate sustained, coordinated State leadership towards providing reliable, transparent, and affordable data and other assistance to accelerate implementation of local emission reduction actions. 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.