This pilot project was designed to demonstrate the incremental GHG reduction benefits achievable by institutionalizing long-term climate protection within communities with limited technical and financial resources.

During the summer and Fall of 2008, SEI staff worked with the City of El Cerrito to review their current programs and policies, interview staff about possible new policies, and develop policy recommendations.

At the end of 2008, SEI and City staff agreed to implement a green building incentive for existing homes and a revolving fund for municipal environmental improvements. In early 2009, SEI provided technical guidance on the policies themselves. At the close of this project, El Cerrito had moved towards formal adoption of the green building policy and the revolving fund had been used to demonstrate savings opportunities and secure committment for an additional $25,000 in municipal energy savings measures.

In parallel, SEI developed it’s toolkit of general plan policy resources. In November 2009 SEI added a “CEQA Comment Database” to complement the existing policy database. This database enables users to search through the Attorney General’s Comment Letters on proposed General Plan updates. Since these comment letters document the State’s opinion on municipal compliance with CEQA relative to climate change policies, this database provides a valuable resource for municipalities looking to proactively design their general plan update with climate change in mind. As part of this toolkit SEI authored a “practical guide to GHG inventories” for local governments. This guide is meant to be an early planning resource for local government stakeholders who want an overview of the process and suggestions for how to setup a GHG inventory. This document is intended to serve as a companion to more technical resources.