California Air Resources Board

Learn how California Climate Investments puts billions of dollars of Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, improving public health and the environment, and providing meaningful benefits to priority populations.

California Air Resources Board

The Cap-and-Trade Program is a key element of California’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It complements other measures to ensure that California cost-effectively meets its goals for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

California Air Resources Board

Learn about priority populations and how California Climate Investments programs are providing benefits.

California Air Resources Board

California Climate Investments are driven by a suite of legislation that establishes the statutory requirements for administering appropriations from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Explore bill summaries by year the legislation was enacted.

California Air Resources Board

The Legislature and Governor appropriate money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to State agencies through the Budget process. View dollars made available to State agencies for California Climate Investments programs.

California Air Resources Board

Definitions and more information about commonly used terms in the California Climate Investments Funding Guidelines and other materials.

California Air Resources Board

Guidance for grantees and contractors implementing California Climate Investments projects and programs around the state to ensure brand and messaging consistency.

California Air Resources Board

An interactive resource that guides Tribes through narrowing down which California Climate Investments funding opportunities might be a good fit based on your Tribe’s needs and priorities. 

California Air Resources Board

Administering agencies are required to prepare an expenditure record documenting how their investments will further the purposes of Assembly Bill 32, contribute to achieving greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other health and environmental co-benefits, and meet other statutory requirements. View sample templates and submitted documents.

California Air Resources Board

Benefit Criteria Tables are used by administering agencies and applicants to identify the priority populations that will benefit from the project, and determine how the project will meaningfully address an important community or household need and provide a benefit.

California Air Resources Board

Administering agencies must use CARB tools to develop effective programs and demonstrate compliance with program requirements. Resources on this page include quantification methodologies and calculator tools for estimating GHG emissions reductions and co-benefits; benefit criteria tables for determining benefits to priority populations; and reporting templates for reporting outcomes. 

California Air Resources Board

Methods for evaluating project co-benefits for projects, including jobs, air pollutant emissions, travel cost savings, vehicle miles traveled, energy and fuel cost savings, water savings, soil health and conservation, and heart and lung health.

California Air Resources Board

Definitions and more information about commonly used terms in the California Climate Investments Funding Guidelines and other materials.

California Air Resources Board

Agencies must submit project and program information through the California Climate Investments Reporting and Tracking System (CCIRTS), an online tracking tool.

California Air Resources Board

Guidance for estimating the job co-benefits of projects.

California Air Resources Board

Provides uniform methods that can be applied statewide and are accessible by all applicants and funding recipients, uses existing and proven tools or methods, where available, and identifies the appropriate data needed to calculate co-benefits.

California Air Resources Board

Guidance for grantees and contractors implementing California Climate Investments projects and programs around the state to ensure brand and messaging consistency.

California Air Resources Board

This document reviews available empirical literature on the Jobs Co-benefit and identifies the direction and magnitude of the co-benefit indicators, the limitations of existing empirical literature, the existing assessment methods and tools, knowledge gaps and other issues to consider in developing co-benefit assessment methods, a proposed assessment method for further development, and an estimation of the level of effort and delivery schedule for a fully developed method.

California Air Resources Board

This user guide provides administering agencies with step-by-step guidance on how to report in CCIRTS.

California Air Resources Board

If direct community engagement is not possible, administering agencies, applicants, and/or funding recipient can refer to the list of common needs and select a need that has documented broad support from local community-based organizations and/or residents. While this list includes some common needs of priority populations, as identified by community advocates, it is not intended to reflect a definitive list of all potential needs of disadvantaged and low-income communities and low-income households, and items included in the list may not be applicable for a specific community.

California Air Resources Board

Explore the impact of California Climate Investments, including estimates of greenhouse gas emissions reductions, benefits from project investments, data on the benefits to priority populations, and program achievements.

California Energy Commission

This project aimed to address the acute shortage of skilled workers in California's ZEV sector by delivering a tailored training program focused on the technology and maintenance of electric vehicles and the installation and diagnostics of electric vehicle chargers. The final report highlights the efficacy of targeted training programs in bridging the skills gap in the green economy, highlighting the need for continued and expanded efforts to meet the surging demand for electrification and clean energy skills.

Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission

California has five voluntary standards that organizations may adopt to support the mental health of their employees. The standards can help organizations create policies and processes to address mental health in the workplace in ways that meet employee needs.. Learn more about how creating a positive workplace culture and supporting mental health improves job quality.

Department of Civil Rights

The California Department of Civil Rights investigates claims related to harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Read about how to file a complaint, responding to a complaint, possible outcomes, and more.

California Strategic Growth Council

This toolkit is designed to support California state agencies and other public and private funders in developing technical assistance programs that make a meaningful difference in under-resourced communities. Due to historic and continued under-investment, under-resourced communities often lack the staff capacity, partnerships, or resources to secure competitive funding and implement projects and policies. Technical assistance and capacity building support can be pivotal in leveling the playing field and ensuring that State resources go to the communities that need them the most.

United States Department of Labor

The federal Department of Labor champions job quality through this list of good job principles. These eight principles create a framework for workers, businesses, labor unions, advocates, researchers, state and local governments, and federal agencies for a shared vision of job quality.

United States Department of Labor

Labor agreements can be used to uplift underserved workers. Explore example project labor agreements across the US.

United States Department of Labor

Labor agreements build job quality into a project before starting work. Learn about project labor, community workforce, and community benefits agreements and how and if they are enforced.

Department of Industrial Relations

Pre-apprenticeships and registered apprenticeships are overseen by DIR’s Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Learn how to become an apprentice or start an apprenticeship program.

Department of Industrial Relations

DIR oversees compliance with labor laws. Workers may report a violation to DIR. View laws, regulations, and policies and other resources for workers and employers.

Department of Industrial Relations

California employers have many different responsibilities under the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 and Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations. Learn about these employer responsibilities related to health and safety.

Department of Industrial Relations

CalOSHA oversees workplace safety. Learn about CalOSHA, access safety and health guidance and resources, and find information for workers and employers.

Department of Industrial Relations

DIR maintains authority over labor requirements related to public works. Learn more about public works and prevailing wage.

Department of Industrial Relations

The Public Works manual outlines requirements relating to public works and prevailing wage.

Department of Industrial Relations

The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) posts prevailing wage determinations twice a year that regulate covered workers. View determinations and find answers to frequently asked questions.

California Workforce Development Board

Learn about the elements of a high-quality job and how high road training partnerships approach is creating a workforce development system that ensures job quality and an ecosystem of economic prosperity.

California Workforce Development Board

The California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) includes job quality as one of the three elements of its High Road vision. Ranging from transportation to healthcare, hospitality to construction, the High Road approach embodies the sector strategy championed by the Board: industry partnerships that deliver equity, climate resilience, and job quality. Along with these program investments, CWDB is producing a body of policies and principles to guide alignment across the workforce and education system.

California Air Resources Board

Administering agencies must use CARB tools to develop effective programs and demonstrate compliance with program requirements. Resources on this page include quantification methodologies and calculator tools for estimating GHG emissions reductions and co-benefits; benefit criteria tables for determining benefits to priority populations; and reporting templates for reporting outcomes. 

California Air Resources Board

Guidance for estimating the job co-benefits of projects.

California Air Resources Board

Provides uniform methods that can be applied statewide and are accessible by all applicants and funding recipients, uses existing and proven tools or methods, where available, and identifies the appropriate data needed to calculate co-benefits.

California Air Resources Board

This document reviews available empirical literature on the Jobs Co-benefit and identifies the direction and magnitude of the co-benefit indicators, the limitations of existing empirical literature, the existing assessment methods and tools, knowledge gaps and other issues to consider in developing co-benefit assessment methods, a proposed assessment method for further development, and an estimation of the level of effort and delivery schedule for a fully developed method.

California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

A screening tool used to help identify communities disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution and with population characteristics that make them more sensitive to pollution.

California Department of Transportation

Spatial screening tool designed to identify transportation-based priority populations at the census block level. The EQI integrates transportation and socioeconomic indicators into three screens: communities that are most burdened by the transportation system and receive the fewest benefits, communities that are the most burdened through high exposure to traffic and crashes, and communities that have the greatest gaps in multimodal access to destinations.

Public Health Alliance of Southern California

Data and policy platform created to advance health equity through open and accessible data. Users can evaluate project areas for vulnerabilities or ways projects can benefit priority populations.

Council on Environmental Quality

This tool is an interactive map and uses datasets that are indicators of burdens in eight categories: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, water and wastewater, and workforce development. The tool uses this information to identify communities that are experiencing these burdens. These are the communities that are disadvantaged because they are overburdened and underserved. Federal agencies will use the tool to help identify disadvantaged communities that will benefit from programs included in the Justice40 Initiative.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

EPA's environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides EPA with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic socioeconomic indicators. EJScreen users choose a geographic area; the tool then provides demographic socioeconomic and environmental information for that area. All of the EJScreen indicators are publicly-available data. EJScreen simply provides a way to display this information and includes a method for combining environmental and demographic indicators into EJ indexes.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

This document illustrates EPA’s spectrum of public involvement, which is characterized by five different “outcomes” that result from public involvement in agency decisions. It parallels the IAP2 Spectrum, but is tailored to the specific needs of a regulatory agency.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

This guide provides tools for public participation and public outreach in environmental decision-making. It will help you identify some of the best practices for planning, skills and behaviors that government agencies can use to design and implement a meaningful public participation program.

California Climate Investments

Excerpts from the Transformative Climate Communities Program Guidelines that establish minimum requirements for a Community Engagement Plan to ensure applicants involve residents from the project area and key stakeholders in all phases of TCC proposal development and implementation.

California Air Resources Board

Recommendations and lesson learned for incorporating community leadership into many different stages of a program or project.

International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)

IAP2's Spectrum of Public Participation was designed to assist with the selection of the level of participation that defines the public's role in any public participation process.

California Department of Public Health

Designed to support effectively implementing the strategies in the Engaging Communities for Health Equity and Environmental Justice: A Guide for Public Agencies.

California Air Resources Board

View upcoming California Climate Investments funding timelines, public participation opportunities such as workshops, public comment periods, listening sessions, and more.

California Air Resources Board

Current opportunities to participate in identifying areas for improvement of existing materials and ideas for tools and resources to help achieve the objectives and principles of California Climate Investments.

California Air Resources Board

Subscribe to the newsletter and read past newsletters in English and Spanish.

California Air Resources Board

Bingo game to help children learn about California Climate Investments and how California is combating climate change.

California Air Resources Board

A fortune teller game to help children learn about California Climate Investments and how California is combating climate change.

California Strategic Growth Council

Tested policy models for equitable outcomes in under-resourced communities. Provides case studies, lessons, and scalable templates to support program administrators and funders in designing programs to achieve equitable and transformative outcomes in communities in California and beyond.

California Strategic Growth Council

If your organization isn’t ready yet to apply for a planning or implementation grant, find resources here to help you prepare for success. Through the Community Assistance for Climate Equity (CACE) suite of programs, SGC provides technical assistance and capacity building to help under-resourced communities access critical funding resources, implement high-impact projects, and enact community-led initiatives.

This page provides ideas and resources to consider when planning and conducting public outreach and community engagement. 

Governor’s Office of Planning and Research

This checklist is intended to assist State agencies to ensure that plans and investments identify and protect the State’s most vulnerable populations. This checklist can be used alongside any decision-making process to improve equitable outcomes.

California Air Resources Board

Learn about priority populations and how California Climate Investments programs are providing benefits.

Learn how to identify priority populations and access resources to help deliver benefits and advance equity and environmental justice.

Explore resources that can be used to provide technical assistance in a way that advances equity and builds community capacity to secure funding and implement projects that can help reverse past disinvestment.

California Air Resources Board

Community Connections is a tool to help organizations and agencies find partners interested in California Climate Investments. Partnerships ensure that project proposals reflect the perspectives needed to build resilient communities and implement meaningful investment.

California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

A screening tool used to help identify communities disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution and with population characteristics that make them more sensitive to pollution.

California Air Resources Board

This map shows disadvantaged communities and low-income communities as defined for California Climate Investments. To see if a particular location is within a disadvantaged community or low-income community, either navigate to the desired location on the map, search for the location by address, or enter a 10 digit census tract number in the search bar. Layers can be adjusted using the layer tool. Census tracts that are both disadvantaged and low-income blend to a color not represented in the legend if overlapping.

California Department of Transportation

Spatial screening tool designed to identify transportation-based priority populations at the census block level. The EQI integrates transportation and socioeconomic indicators into three screens: communities that are most burdened by the transportation system and receive the fewest benefits, communities that are the most burdened through high exposure to traffic and crashes, and communities that have the greatest gaps in multimodal access to destinations.

California Air Resources Board

Benefit Criteria Tables are used by administering agencies and applicants to identify the priority populations that will benefit from the project, and determine how the project will meaningfully address an important community or household need and provide a benefit.

Public Health Alliance of Southern California

Data and policy platform created to advance health equity through open and accessible data. Users can evaluate project areas for vulnerabilities or ways projects can benefit priority populations.

Council on Environmental Quality

This tool is an interactive map and uses datasets that are indicators of burdens in eight categories: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, water and wastewater, and workforce development. The tool uses this information to identify communities that are experiencing these burdens. These are the communities that are disadvantaged because they are overburdened and underserved. Federal agencies will use the tool to help identify disadvantaged communities that will benefit from programs included in the Justice40 Initiative.

California Air Resources Board

Methods for evaluating project co-benefits for projects, including jobs, air pollutant emissions, travel cost savings, vehicle miles traveled, energy and fuel cost savings, water savings, soil health and conservation, and heart and lung health.

California Air Resources Board

This spreadsheet can be used to identify if a census tract is as a Disadvantaged Community or Low-Income Community, if Tribal lands are present within the census tract, and buffer community claims may be available.

California Air Resources Board

Use this lookup tool to identify the median income threshold by county and county average household size.

California Air Resources Board

If direct community engagement is not possible, administering agencies, applicants, and/or funding recipient can refer to the list of common needs and select a need that has documented broad support from local community-based organizations and/or residents. While this list includes some common needs of priority populations, as identified by community advocates, it is not intended to reflect a definitive list of all potential needs of disadvantaged and low-income communities and low-income households, and items included in the list may not be applicable for a specific community.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

EPA's environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides EPA with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic socioeconomic indicators. EJScreen users choose a geographic area; the tool then provides demographic socioeconomic and environmental information for that area. All of the EJScreen indicators are publicly-available data. EJScreen simply provides a way to display this information and includes a method for combining environmental and demographic indicators into EJ indexes.

California Strategic Growth Council

The Hub is designed to enable practitioners, policymakers, and communities at any point in their racial equity journey to increase access and understanding to relevant resources and best practices.

California Air Resources Board

Example guidance from the Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP), where applicants must directly engage community residents, in all phases of the STEP proposal’s development and implementation to ensure projects provide direct, meaningful, and assured benefits to STEP Community residents. While quantity of outreach and engagement is important, STEP Applicants should also prioritize the quality of their outreach and engagement, including targeted outreach and engagement to hard-to-reach residents.

California Air Resources Board

Example guidance from Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP), where applicants are encouraged to consider how to identify and avoid substantial economic, environmental, and public health burdens in disadvantaged and low-income communities that may occur due to STEP-funded projects and that may lead to the physical or economic displacement of low-income households and small businesses.

California Air Resources Board

Example guidance from the Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP) where applicants are encouraged to consider how projects can increase adaptability and build resilience to the specific impacts of climate change on the STEP Community over each project’s lifetime.

California Department of Housing and Community Development

Identify income limits for low-income communities and households. Low-income communities and households are defined as the census tracts and households, respectively, that are either at or below 80 percent of the statewide median income, or at or below the threshold designated as low-income by HCD.

Governor's Office of Planning and Research

This document provides this guidance in a step-by-step process with specific guidance on prioritizing actions that promote equity and foster community resilience. While this guidance is aimed at state agencies in particular, it can be applied to the local and regional scales.

Industrial Economics, Inc.

An analysis and evaluation of ecosystem service benefits California Climate Investments projects provide by funding nature-based climate solutions. The resulting report explores how carbon mitigation projects can generate ecological and environmental improvements that enhance the health, wealth, and well-being of California residents.

California Strategic Growth Council

Tested policy models for equitable outcomes in under-resourced communities. Provides case studies, lessons, and scalable templates to support program administrators and funders in designing programs to achieve equitable and transformative outcomes in communities in California and beyond.

California Strategic Growth Council

This toolkit is designed to support California state agencies and other public and private funders in developing technical assistance programs that make a meaningful difference in under-resourced communities. Due to historic and continued under-investment, under-resourced communities often lack the staff capacity, partnerships, or resources to secure competitive funding and implement projects and policies. Technical assistance and capacity building support can be pivotal in leveling the playing field and ensuring that State resources go to the communities that need them the most.

California Strategic Growth Council

If your organization isn’t ready yet to apply for a planning or implementation grant, find resources here to help you prepare for success. Through the Community Assistance for Climate Equity (CACE) suite of programs, SGC provides technical assistance and capacity building to help under-resourced communities access critical funding resources, implement high-impact projects, and enact community-led initiatives.

California Strategic Growth Council

Lessons learned and recommendations from SGC and technical assistance providers to support capacity building efforts.