California Air Resources Board

Workshop

The draft 2024 Funding Guidelines for Agencies that Administer California Climate Investments (Funding Guidelines)is available for public comment. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) invites you to participate in a virtual public workshop to discuss the draft. Topics that will be covered in this workshop include general improvements to clarify existing guidance and incorporate best practices from the 2018 Funding Guidelines, strengthened recommendations related to direct and meaningful community engagement, updates to the expenditure record process, new guidance related to tribal engagement, workforce standards pursuant Assembly Bill (AB) 680 (Burke, Chapter 746, Statutes of 2021), updates to reporting timing and frequency, improvements to the program and project evaluation process, and incorporation of appendices that contain previously finalized guidance. The upcoming workshop provides the public with an opportunity to learn more about the updates and provide feedback for consideration in the final Funding Guidelines.

Administering agencies, local governments, technical assistance providers, nonprofits, community-based organizations, tribes, businesses, farmers, individuals, and other interested parties working on climate projects are encouraged to review the draft update, attend the workshop, and provide feedback.

The workshop will be held via Zoom webinar at the following date and time:

Date: July 11, 2024

Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Location:Virtual Workshop

The workshop presentation, agenda, and any additional supporting materials will be posted to the Funding Guidelines webpage prior to the workshop. This webpage also contains more information about the Funding Guidelines including the draft once released.

How to participate

To participate in the workshop, please register any time before the event starts on July 11, 2024. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information to join the Zoom webinar either through a computer, digital device, or via phone line. The workshop will be conducted in English with live Spanish interpretation. During the workshop, participants will be able to ask questions and provide comments through the Zoom “raise hand” feature or via phone line.

Background on the Funding Guidelines

California Climate Investments is a statewide initiative that puts Cap‑and‑Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment--particularly in disadvantaged and low‑income communities. California Climate Investments projects include affordable housing, renewable energy, public transportation, zero‑emission vehicles, sustainable agriculture, recycling and much more. To learn more, visit the California Climate Investments website.

The Funding Guidelines apply to all California Climate Investments programs and provide guidance to administering agencies on developing their own guidelines and solicitations, estimating greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other project goals, and tracking and reporting achievements, including benefits to priority populations. CARB released the initial Funding Guidelines in 2015 and first revised them in 2018. CARB is currently updating the Funding Guidelines to address recent legislation and incorporate lessons learned from program implementation since the last update. CARB will release the draft update to gain feedback from the public for consideration in the final version of the Funding Guidelines. Updates fall into these key areas:

1.     General Improvements: Inadditiontoimplementingmandatory updatesrelated to recent legislation, CARB updated the Funding Guidelines to clarify existing guidance, incorporate best practices and lessons learned from the 2018 Funding Guidelines, and support broader programmatic goals.

2.     Community Engagement: The draft Funding Guidelines bolster current recommendations to maximize benefits to priority populations and conduct direct, meaningful community engagement wherever possible.

3.     Expenditure Record Process: The draft Funding Guidelines update the expenditure record process to require administering agencies to post the expenditure records on their public website. CARB is also removing the attestation memo requirement.

4.     Tribal Engagement: The draft Funding Guidelines contain new guidance for serving Tribes and Tribal communities through California Climate Investments.

5.     Workforce Development: CARB, in coordinationwiththeCaliforniaWorkforceDevelopmentBoard,updatedthe Funding Guidelines to provide guidance on the inclusion of certain workforce standards pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 680 (Burke, Chapter 746, Statutes of 2021). The draft Funding Guidelines provide recommended guidance to uplift job quality in California Climate Investments, wherever possible.

6.     Reporting Timing and Frequency: CARB requires administering agencies to report data related to California Climate Investments projects in order to track progress towards program goals and statutory requirements. The draft Funding Guidelines contain improvements to the reporting process to increase efficiency.

7.     Program and Project Evaluations: CARB requires administering agencies to report on outcomes to support transparency goals. The draft Funding Guidelines bolster outcome reporting through the new program and project evaluation process.

8.     Appendices: The draft Funding Guidelines includes three appendices that incorporate existing guidance related to CARB and CalEPA’s updated priority populations designations, the Senate Bill (SB) 27 (Skinner, Chapter 237, Statutes of 2021) California Carbon Sequestration and Climate Resiliency Project Registry, and reporting for programs that are no longer funded by GGRF but whose projects otherwise meet GGRF requirements.

In addition to these updates, California Climate Investments will launch an online Resource Portal to house existing and new resources and tools to complement the Funding Guidelines. Designed with an array of audiences in mind, example resources may include promising practices guides or checklists, additional guidance on collecting and reporting project information, supporting materials for project design and implementation, project case studies, and more.

Contact

If you have questions about the workshop or the draft update to the Funding Guidelines, please email ggrfprogram@arb.ca.gov. To receive regular updates about California Climate Investments, please sign up for the newsletter.

If you require a special accommodation or language needs for any of the following: 

• An interpreter to be available during the workshop;
• Having documents available in an alternate format (i.e., Braille, large print) or another language;
• A disability-related reasonable accommodation.

Please contact Raina Ryan at raina.ryan@arb.ca.gov as soon as possible, but no later than 10 business days before the scheduled event. TTY/TDD/Speech to Speech users may dial 711 for the California Relay Service.