San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

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Uplifting the Critical Value of the LGBTQ+ Climate Workforce

Brenda Castruita and Nicole Fassina

As the world faces unprecedented environmental challenges, the need for a robust and diverse environmental workforce has never been more critical. Historically, marginalized communities are at the forefront of these challenges and often bear the brunt of impacts from our changing climate. It is vital that the climate workforce reflects the diversity of our communities and is inclusive of individuals with lived experiences that can inform equitable and effective solutions. Among these marginalized communities, the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and others) community is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.¹ Research underscores how LGBTQ+ individuals disproportionately face the impacts of our worsening climate, as discussed in SDRCC’s 2022 blog, "Understanding the Intersections of the LGBTQ+ Community and Climate Change." San Diego’s regional community of climate practitioners benefits from the expertise and leadership of the LGBTQ+ community; this blog aims to uplift the voices of professionals working in the climate space and to highlight the specific challenges they may have navigated throughout their careers.
2023 San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Annual Report

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

The San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative is a network for public agencies that serves the San Diego region to share expertise, leverage resources and advance comprehensive solutions to facilitate climate change planning. By partnering with academia, nonprofits, and businesses, the SDRCC also works to leverage the profile of regional leadership. This is the 2023 San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Annual Report.
The Port of San Diego's Maritime Clean Air Strategy: Enhancing Public Health with Innovative Clean Air Strategies

Gabriela Yamhure and Alexis Padilla

The Port of San Diego (The Port), established in 1962 under the Port act, is the Maritime agency that manages and stewards the thirty-four miles of coastal working waterfront along the San Diego Bay. The Port develops and promotes commerce, navigation, recreation, a healthy environment and fisheries around the San Diego Bay, contributes billions to San Diego’s economy, and is home to international cargo and trade operations. In a concerted effort to lessen greenhouse gas emissions impact of operations on local, often underserved communities, the Port developed and is implementing a Maritime Clean Air Strategy (MCAS), an update to the Port’s 2007 Clean Air Program. The MCAS, adopted in 2021, identifies a vision centered on “Health Equity for All”, with ambitious goals for 2030 that will contribute to greening the Port’s operations and promote clean air strategies. Through decarbonization, electrification, and innovative clean air strategies, the Port of San Diego hopes to enhance public health in the San Diego Bay region.
Understanding Binational Water Scarcity

Avery Aquino and Darbi Berry

Water scarcity has become a growing concern in many regions around the world, including the San Diego, CA and Tijuana, MX border region Water is a valuable resource that sustains all life on earth, and the San Diego/Tijuana border region is no exception. With increasing population growth, urbanization, and changing climate patterns on both sides of the border, the demand for water resources has significantly outstripped its availability in this region. As a result, it has become essential tounderstand the extent and impacts of water scarcity, and to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that can mitigate its effects.
Mobilizing Regional Action: Insights from the San Diego Region Coastal Resilience Roadmap

Darbi Berry, CivicWell, and SDRCC

This case study details the process of developing the San Diego Region Coastal Resilience Roadmap with particular attention to how this process can be replicated in other regions throughout California – for coastal resilience, as well as other climate impacts and community priorities.
Understanding Urban Heat Islands and Impacts

Darbi Berry, Nicole Fassina, and A-bel Gong

Urban heat islands play a large role in aggravating climate impacts on water, electricity, and air pollutants, and affect vulnerable communities disproportionately. This blog calls onto historical redlining and disinvestment and urban development as direct contributors of socioeconomic disparities and includes a case study of one of our region’s most vulnerable communities.
Water and Agriculture in the San Diego Region

Olivia Frigyes, Darbi Berry, and A-bel Gong

The San Diego region is susceptible to drought with little annual precipitation. The rising temperature and changing precipitation is expected to affect the agriculture economy. Classified as having a mediterranean climate, San Diego has hot, dry summers and cooler, wet winters. In this blog, learn about how San Diego's climate shapes its agricultural communities' reliance on water supply.
Why Reach Codes: Local Players Driving Statewide Building Standards

Gabriella Medina, Darbi Berry, and Gabriela Yamhure

Reach codes are local energy ordinances that employ various technologies, strategies, and integrated systems that go above California Building Standards Code (CA Building Code, Title 24) standards and support greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts. A reach code is a mandated energy performance requirement for the built environment, typically incorporated as part of a city’s climate action plan, local hazard mitigation plan, or climate adaptation plan. Not only do reach codes help local jurisdictions remain in compliance with state mandates, they enable local climate leadership by signaling support for the future direction of state Building Code standards. This blog provides a high-level overview of reach code development, adoption, and implementation while identifying technological advancements and policy pathways that offer opportunities for reach codes to support high-performing buildings and broader socio-economic development.
The Value of STEM as an Educational Tool for Enhancing Cognitive Development

Alessandra Olmedo Robles and Leaders 20/20

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The focus of STEM education is to provide a holistic approach through hands-on, problem-based learning where students are able to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real world problems.
2022 Annual Report

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

The San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative is a network for public agencies that serves the San Diego region to share expertise, leverage resources and advance comprehensive solutions to facilitate climate change planning. By partnering with academia, nonprofits, and businesses, the SDRCC also works to leverage the profile of regional leadership. This is the 2021 San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Annual Report.
San Diego Region Coastal Resilience Roadmap

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, Resilient Cities Catalyst, and CivicWell

The Roadmap is designed to serve as a dynamic document to facilitate and strengthen regional collaboration, motivating and inspiring coordinated ongoing action among regional partners. By aligning planning goals on a regional scale, this Roadmap aims to foster multi-jurisdictional resilience through coordinated planning that leads to high-impact initiatives and projects. Through 6 Principles, 30 Goals, and 76 specific Actions, this Roadmap aims to amplify tangible opportunities to implement aligned multi-benefit projects that address our region’s most urgent shocks and stresses. This Roadmap is grounded in equity, with an approach that considers the region’s holistic social-ecological coastal system and fosters a regional capacity to transform and become more resilient.
Understanding the Intersections of the LGBTQ+ Community & Climate Change

Annabel Gong and Darbi Berry

In this blog, we will explore these LGBTQ+ community relationships as they relate to environmental justice, relationships and access to the outdoors, and community representation in the environmental science field.
Electrifying Encinitas

Gabriella Medina and Darbi Berry

Advancing the San Diego region’s resilience to climate change impacts within the nexus of social, environmental, and economic prosperity is a top priority for local planning and efforts. As the region continues to face impacts on quality of life from climate change, the City of Encinitas is taking action to respond by leading efforts of energy resilience with their recently passed Green Building Ordinance (Ordinance). The Ordinance requires all new residential and non-residential buildings constructed in Encinitas to be “all-electric” unless an exception applies. As the San Diego region moves towards decarbonizing, Encinitas is the first city to mandate building electrification for virtually all new construction - advancing local climate action planning and setting an example for others.
Quick Guide to the 2022 Energy Code: Blog 2

Gabriella Medina and Darbi Berry

There are a wide range of updates to the 2022 Energy Code; however, there are four categories of top priority for industry professionals and end-use stakeholders as California strengthens compliance standards: electric heat pump technology, electric-ready requirements, solar photovoltaic systems and battery storage standards, and strong ventilation standards.
Revolutionizing the Integration of Sustainability & Zero Net Energy in the San Diego Region

Gabriella Medina and Darbi Berry

The San Diego County Regional Airport Airport Authority (Airport Authority) manages the day-to-day operations of the San Diego International Airport (SAN) and addresses the region’s long-term air transportation needs. SAN is also the busiest single-run commercial airport in the United States. To lessen SAN’s greenhouse gas emissions impact on local climate change vulnerabilities from the airport’s operations (i.e. minimizing energy usage), the Airport Authority has integrated sustainability across its social, environmental, and economic functions. In their commitment to sustainability, the Airport Authority is using the New Terminal 1 (New T1) project and zero-net energy (ZNE) Airline Support Facilities (ASF) as an opportunity for the Airport Authority to raise the profile of local climate leadership with an international impact, as well as sustain economic development and environmental stewardship for the San Diego region. Along with pursuing ZNE buildings, SAN’s climate reporting and planning efforts showcase how sustainable design and data-driven project planning can uplift the economic value, environmental stewardship, and regional community impact SAN and the Airport Authority contribute.
Sustainability & (Em)Powering Community Based Action in Chula Vista

Gabriella Medina and Darbi Berry

The City of Chula Vista (Chula Vista / the City) has already begun to experience the localized impacts of climate change through record-breaking heat waves, droughts, and wildfires. In response to the impacts of climate change posing a threat to Chula Vista residents’ quality of life, the City declared a climate emergency in March 2022. This declaration advanced the City’s commitment to update its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction goals, strengthen existing efforts like the City Operations Sustainability Plan, and encourage new City-wide and voluntary actions by residents and businesses. The Chula Vista DIY Sustainable Home Toolkit (Toolkit) is a best practice example of how encouraging residents to participate in climate action through public education can be an effective tool for energy resilience and climate-smart water initiatives.
Understanding California's 2022 Energy Code: Blog 1

Gabriella Medina and Darbi Berry

When thinking about the built environment, it is easy to overlook the influence structures have on our communities' quality of life. Buildings are relics of the past or symbols of modernity. They are tangible evidence of our society's investment in people's health, the environment and a resilient economy. Buildings play a crucial role over energy usage, urban heat impacts, and overall greenhouse gas emissions.
CALGreen: California Green Building Standards Code: Blog 3

Gabriella Medina, Darbi Berry M.S., and San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

CALGreen encourages local governments to go beyond statewide Energy Code regulations to achieve greater building energy efficiency and cost savings, all while providing the necessary resources to do so. The currently enforced version of CALGreen is the 2019 CALGreen code. Mandates and voluntary provisions in the 2022 CALGreen update will go into effect January 1, 2023.¹ If both the 2022 Energy Code and 2022 CALGreen mandatory and voluntary standards were to be adopted statewide, the carbon reductions would be equivalent to removing 8,000 fuel-powered cars off the road for the first year and 24,000 fuel-powered cars by the third year.² This means that 2022 is a critical year for local jurisdictions throughout California and the San Diego region to inform, educate, and implement opportunities that maximize energy savings, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and public health benefits.
Approaches and Strategies to Integrate Equity into Adaptation Planning

Michelle Robidas and Darbi Berry

SDRCC is excited to share the second post of our 2-part Climate Adaptation Blog Series "Approaches and Strategies to Integrate Equity into Adaptation Planning." Building off of our first adaptation blog, readers will learn about equitable stakeholder engagement, identifying starting point vulnerabilities, how to conduct a vulnerability assessment, and opportunities to integrate equity into all phases of climate adaptation projects.
Laying the Groundwork for Equity-First Climate Adaptation

Michelle Robidas and Darbi Berry

SDRCC is excited to share the first post of our 2-part Climate Adaptation Blog Series "Laying the Groundwork for Equity-First Climate Adaptation." This blog post gives a high-level introduction to SDRCC and SANDAG's Equity-First Approach to Climate Adaptation guidance document. Readers will learn strategies to identify social equity communities, build community capacity, and link adaptation planning efforts to the four dimensions of equity.
Understanding the Inflation Reduction Act

Michelle Robidas and Darbi Berry

In this blog, readers will learn what the Inflation Reduction Act is, the major categories of its climate funding, and why its passing into law was a historical moment for the U.S.
An Equity-First Approach to Climate Adaptation

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative and San Diego Association of Governments

The Equity-First Approach to Climate Adaptation guidance document (Equity Guidance; document) serves as a general framework for local agency planners and transportation planning professionals. The Equity Guidance’s overall goal is to provide best practices for designing, planning, and implementing a climate adaptation process that supports equitable outcomes. This document identifies trends, assumptions, emerging practices, indicators, metrics, and implementation opportunities, that support and operationalize an equitable climate adaptation planning process.
San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Annual Report 2021

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, The Nonprofit Institute

The San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative is a network for public agencies that serves the San Diego region to share expertise, leverage resources and advance comprehensive solutions to facilitate climate change planning. By partnering with academia, nonprofits, and businesses, the SDRCC also works to leverage the profile of regional leadership. This is the 2021 San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Annual Report.
2019 San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Annual Report

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

The San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative is a network for public agencies that serves the San Diego region to share expertise, leverage resources and advance comprehensive solutions to facilitate climate change planning. By partnering with academia, nonprofits, and businesses, the SDRCC also works to leverage the profile of regional leadership. This is the 2019 San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Annual Report.
2020 Advancing Regional Climate Adaptation

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

The San Diego region has a long history of being a leader in climate action and is working to advance regional and collaborative climate resilience efforts. Over the last decade, the region has been working to expand its holistic understanding of vulnerabilities to climate change impacts, including: Sea Level Rise, Wildfire, Water, and Equity. Adaptation planning is critical for communities to address the assessed climate vulnerabilities and to implement resilience strategies to prepare for future conditions and impacts before they happen.