University of San Diego
IN-24: Innovation A

University of San Diego houses and assists in supervising the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative (Climate Collaborative). The Climate Collaborative is a San Diego regional forum for public agencies to share expertise and leverage resources to facilitate climate action planning. By partnering with academia, non-profit organizations, and business and community leaders, the Collaborative works to inspire regional leadership and ensure a vibrant economy and healthy environment. The main goals of the Climate Collaborative are to: - Address and prevent the harmful effects of climate change - Promote a high quality of life for the San Diego region - Foster a green and growing economy Currently, the Climate Collaborative is working on three solutions to facilitate climate change planning: Reducing Energy and Emissions, Creating a Resilient San Diego, and Climate Action Planning. "Reducing Energy Emissions" is currently being addressed by the San Diego Region Energy Partnership, climate action planning, and by fostering electric vehicle readiness though Plug-In San Diego and the CivicSpark Americorps program to meet the local CAP goals and State's goals to have 1.5 million zero emission vehicles on the road by 2025. "Creating a Resilient San Diego" is managed through planning for coastal flooding and sea level rise, creating green infrastructure in the San Diego Region, and the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation (ARCCA). "Climate Action Planning" creates an inventory and analysis of 19 local governments (18 cities and the County) who have performed GHG inventories and have or are developing a climate action plan to reduce those emissions. Most recently, the Climate Collaborative, a partnership managed by seven San Diego public agencies, the University of San Diego, The San Diego Foundation, and San Diego Gas & Electric, received a $689,500 federal grant in 2016 for coastal hazard protection and resilience. The two-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will integrate activities and provides resources across all of the coastal cities but focus on the north-central coast of the county and Imperial Beach, where significant private residential, business, and infrastructure investments are threatened. The project provides new data on flood mapping and shoreline bluff surveys, develop additional legal, economic and scientific expertise, and help cities with outreach and communication.