The Local Government Building Decarbonization Challenge provides local government funding for:
- Developing community-wide building decarbonization plans
- Developing municipal building decarbonization plans
- Advancing municipal operations to support building decarbonization
- Developing local codes, ordinances, and voluntary decarbonization measures
- Supporting building decarbonization related workforce development activities.
Proposed projects should align with other local planning efforts, climate plans and initiatives, and energy goals. The process engages diverse populations to address specific equity needs or benefits to disadvantaged and low-income communities.
This competitive grant opportunity is open to California local government entities or groups of local governments. Individual awards will range from $250,000 to $400,000 for successful applicants. The program is funded with more than $2.7 million for local governments that were not eligible for a direct allocation from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. The program is funded with another $1.3 million for grants to any California local government.
All communication must be directed in writing to the Commission Agreement Officer (CAO) assigned to this solicitation. Any verbal communication with a CEC employee concerning this solicitation is not binding on the State and shall in no way alter a specification, term, or condition of the solicitation. The CAO’s contact information is available in Section I.K of the solicitation manual, which is available on the solicitation webpage.
New funding was allocated to the United States Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program in 2021 under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The broad goals of the Act are to reduce carbon emissions and energy use, improve energy efficiency, and increase community investment and local workforce development. Approximately $4.5 million of this funding was allocated to the State of California.
The Local Government Building Decarbonization Challenge is subject to the Federal Justice40 Initiative (Justice40), which directs 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities. Justice40 includes investments in clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of clean water infrastructure.