This agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to SAN diego association of governments (sandag) to develop or update existing regional climate mitigation plans to address…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a $1,000,000 Cooperative Agreement under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program (CFDA 66.046) to the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to develop or update regional climate action plans for the San Diego metropolitan area. Key deliverables include a Priority Climate Action Plan due by March 2024, a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan due within two years of the award, and a status report at the conclusion of the 4-year project period. The funding will support SANDAG's efforts to engage low-income and disadvantaged communities, coordinate with local tribes, and identify greenhouse gas reduction measures that can be rapidly implemented. SANDAG will utilize a subrecipient arrangement to obtain analytical and modeling services from a local university, as well as community engagement support from a local non-profit organization.

This agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to SAN diego association of governments (sandag) to develop or update existing regional climate mitigation plans to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduction measures throughout the entire metropolitan area and to conduct meaningful engagement with low- income and disadvantaged communities and coordinate with geographically proximate tribes as appropriate. This assistance agreement provides full federal funding in the amount of $1,000,000. Preaward costs are approved back to 7/1/2023.activities:in general, activities include the development, updating, and evaluation of plans to reduce climate pollution (i.e., to reduce GHG emissions and/or enhance carbon sinks). Specific activities include stakeholder and community engagement throughout the grant period will be key to the success of this project. Sandag intends to coordinate with all 19 local jurisdictions that comprise the SAN diego region along with other public agencies, regional collaboratives, cbos, the public, academia, the manzanita band of the kumeyaay nation, and other tribal governments. For the pcap, sandag will review and use a completed 2016 GHG inventory and projections for the SAN diego region that were adopted by sandag as part of the 2021 regional plan (regional transportation plan). GHG reduction measures identified in the pcap will reflect immediate, implementation ready measures from existing caps or cap updates with a focus on measures that accelerate decarbonization, and/or benefit greatly from regional collaboration and knowledge sharing. Ccap development will be spearheaded by a community education and engagement process to understand climate change and its relationship to daily life. This approach of education and engagement is expected to build capacity in the community to engage deeply in climate issues throughout the development of the ccap. The status report will be developed through quarterly meetings with coordinating entities and informed by the development of recap snapshots, which are two-page climate monitoring documents prepared for local jurisdictions biannually that include a GHG inventory and track climate activity data such as miles of bike lanes, number of public electrical vehicle chargers and pounds of waste diverted. Additional analysis will also be conducted to provide an update to deliverables in the ccap. Subrecipient:a subaward will be used to support analytical and modeling services, which will be provided by a local university. There will be a separate subaward to a community based nonprofit organization to support facilitation and translation for stakeholder meetingsoutcomes:three key deliverables will be produced and submitted over the course of the four-year program period, including: a priority climate action plan (pcap), due march 1, 2024; a comprehensive climate action plan (ccap), due two years from the date of the award; and a status report, due at the close of the grant period. The expected outcomes include a pcap and ccap that identifies: tons of pollution (ghgs and CO-pollutants) reduced over the lifetime of the measures; tons of pollution (ghgs and CO-pollutants) reduced annually; and tons of pollution (ghgs and CO-pollutants) reduced with respect to low-income and disadvantaged communities. The intended beneficiaries include low income and disadvantaged communities, tribes not covered by their own cprg planning grant, and residents of the SAN diego metropolitan area.