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We are developing a transformational vision and mission, not only for California’s role in climate change, but also a vision for the future of the state in a rapidly transforming world.

California Collaborative for

Climate Change Solutions

It always seems impossible until it’s done. — Nelson Mandela

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Who We Are

Authorship

The California Collaborative for Climate Change Solutions (C4S) is a 21st century consortium of researchers and technologists from leading California institutions, including the University of California system, the California National Laboratories, Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, the California State University System, University of Southern California, as well as government experts, representatives from commercial and non-profit institutions, foundations and donors. Our aim is to work cooperatively to solve climate change for the benefit of people and the planet.

Lead AuthorsVeerabhadran Ramanathan | UC San Diego Benjamin Houlton | UC Davis

Contributing Authors Jess Adkins | CaltechRoger D. Aines | Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryJuliann Allison | UC RiversidePeter Alstone | UC BerkeleyJason Anderson | Clean Tech San DiegoRoger Bales | UC MercedGeorge Ban-Weiss | USCMatthew Barth | UC RiversideTom Bell | UC Los AngelesLisa P. Bentley | CSU SonomaAsfaw Beyene | CSU San DiegoTrent Biggs | CSU San DiegoWilliam Boyd | UC Los AngelesMara Brady | CSU FresnoJack Brouwer | UC IrvineAnn Carlson | UC Los AngelesRobert C. Carpenter | CSU NorthridgeAlexander Carsh | CSU San DiegoSue A. Carter | UC Santa CruzSen Chiao | CSU San JoseSharifa Crandall | CSU Monterey BayDavid Crohn | UC RiversideEugene Cordero | CSU San JoseMagali Delmas | UC Los AngelesFernando De Sales| CSU San DiegoPeter J. Edmunds | CSU NorthridgeLaura Fandino | UC San DiegoDaniel Fernandez | CSU Monterey BayChristopher Field | Stanford UniversityJohn Foran | UC-CSU Knowledge to Action NetworkFonna Forman | UC San DiegoScott Friese | UC Office of the PresidentNeil Fromer | California Institute of TechnologyAlan Fuchs | CSU BakersfieldRajit Gadh | UC Los AngelesThomas Gillespie | UC Los AngelesFrank Gomez CSU Los AngelesArlene Haffa | CSU Monterey BayHahrie Han | UC Santa BarbaraTianzhen Hong | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Kevin Hovel | CSU San DiegoArne Jacobson | CSU HumboldtDarrel Jenerette | UC RiversideNathaniel Jue | CSU Monterey BayDan Kammen | UC BerkeleyPeter B. Kelemen | Columbia UniversityDaniel Kennedy | California Clean Energy FundCharles Kennel, Chair, Governing Board, California Council For Science And Technology Stefanie Kortman | CSU Monterey BayPeter Lehman | CSU HumboldtRonnen Levinson | USCKuo Nan Liou | UC Los AngelesMichael Loik | UC Santa CruzSonya Lopez CSU Los AngelesSteven Low | CaltechAlicia Kinoshita CSU San DiegoTeenie Matlock | UC MercedBeth Rose Middleton | UC DavisJack Miles | UC IrvineAric Mine | CSU FresnoJoji Muramoto | UC Santa CruzKerry Nickols | CSU NorthridgeNicholas Nidzieko | UC Santa BarbaraWalter Oechel | CSU San DiegoPatty Oikawa | CSU East BayEric Person | CSU FresnoDavid Pellow | UC Santa BarbaraMary Ann Piette | Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryStephanie Pincetl | UC Los AngelesDaniel Press | UC Santa CruzDeepak Rajagopal | UC Los AngelesArun Raju | UC RiversideJoshua Reece | CSU FresnoJeffrey Reed | UC IrvineAlan Roper | UC Office of the PresidentDoug Rotman | Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryScott Samuelsen | UC IrvineGaurav Sant | UC Los AngelesWesley Schultz | CSU San MarcosViviane Seyranian | CSU PomonaCalifornia Collaborative for


To accelerate the translation of research findings into practical climate solutions, to test innovative technologies through high-impact pilot projects, and to rapidly scale promising solutions to the national and global level.

MISSION STATEMENT

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How much time do we have?

What do we need to do?



There is still time to solve the problem

Our world has already warmed by 1°C. As of 2017, the stock of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is already large enough to warm the planet by 1.5°C or more. In about 12 years, there is at least a 50% probability that warming will reach the dangerous threshold of 1.5°C. With unchecked climate emissions, there is about a 5% probability for the climate change problem to morph into an existential threat posing grave risks to all species including people from all nations. Climate risks and impacts are likely to last thousands of years, impacting not only our children and grandchildren, but many future generations. None of us will board a plane that has a 5% risk of crashing, but we are effectively sending our children and future generations on that plane.

The LANCET commission consisting of international experts in public health, air pollution and climate change concluded in 2015 that the effects of climate change are being felt today, and future that projections represent an unacceptably high and potentially catastrophic risk to human health.

California is becoming the quintessential beacon of hope for the nation and the world. Here, climate-smart policies are indicating that the supposed trade-off between reduced emissions and economic prosperity does not necessarily hold true. Quite the opposite: job growth and positive disruptions in technology and innovation are working hand-in-hand with sustainable practices in California. Now is the time to lead the world in climate solutions and unleash the California model to other states, nations and the entire planet. The mitigation goals to bend the warming curve are the following:

Achieve Climate Stability Within three decades (preferably) to four decades (essential), make the planet carbon neutral (zero net emissions of CO2) and reduce atmospheric concentrations of short-lived climate pollutants (methane, HFCs, tropospheric ozone precursors, and black carbon) by 50% (for methane) to 100% (for black carbon and HFCs). In addition, reduce emissions of nitrous oxide from agriculture as much as possible.

Take Out Existing CO2 Take out the CO2 that we emitted beginning 2018. During the 3 to 4 decades transition to carbon neutrality, we would have emitted another 500 billion to one trillion tons of CO2 which has to be taken out of the air. The massive amount of CO2 that is taken out has to be sequestered in soils, forests and the oceans; if feasible it would be better to repurpose some of the CO2 for commercial/industrial uses.

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2Protecting our children and grandchildren from getting on a plane that has a 1 in 20 chance of crashing.

California is ready to provide a safe landing.

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Climate Change without aggressive intervention can soon become an existential threat affecting the health of every one, rich and poor, young and old. This is the Mother of all challenges we face and it is a fight for life, our own lives.

Partner with Health Care Providers Given the grave risks of climate to people’s health, partnerships with health care providers are essential to protect citizens and encourage healthy optimism, thus creating the bottom up momentum for bending the curve.

Create Public-Private Collaborations Public-private partnerships are urgently required to identify scalable solutions, accelerate implementation of the scalable solutions and innovate new measures, which is the objective of C4S. It has to be a collaborative process between academia where many of the innovations are being developed and tested, the government agencies which provide the policy framework and funding, the industrial partners crucial for scaling up and promoting public adoption through marketing, and foundations and investors to support the collaborative with funds.

1Align with Faith Leaders Given the moral dimension of the climate change problem, alliance with faith leaders can garner the sort of transformational public support required to enact drastic mitigation actions.2

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Need for Innovative Partnerships for National to Global ScalingWe have solutions at our disposal to solve climate change. There are plenty of solutions to take society at least half way through stabilizing global warming below 1.5°C. There are numerous ongoing attempts to implement available solutions at local scales; California as well as its universities are exemplars for reducing emissions and creating negative carbon solutions. However, California as well as numerous other local to national scale living laboratories around the world (for example, China, India, Sweden) are far from achieving carbon neutrality or the 50% to 100% reductions in emissions of short-lived super-pollutants. Given a decade of available time, two major steps are urgently needed.

First, we need to accelerate the efforts of living laboratories like California.

Next, we need to scale the mitigation actions of the living laboratories to rest of the nation and the world.

Both steps, require national to global collaborations since climate change is a common goods problem. To give one example, reducing California’s emissions, say by 50%, would reduce the global carbon emissions by less than 0.5%. Hence, we must ensure that “what happens in California does not stay in California.” New alliances and partnerships are required to strengthen global mitigation actions such as the UN’s 2015 Paris Agreement:

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C4S will pull on four levers to drastically reduce climate pollution and bend the warming curve below 1.5°C.





THE CARBON LEVERWe have to pull on this lever to bring down carbon emissions to zero by 2060. This can be achieved by converting ALL end uses to electricity and generating the electricity by solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and nuclear as fuels, except in the case of aircraft where liquid fuels or hydrogen made of renewables have to be used.

SHORT LIVED CLIMATE POLLUTANTS LEVERThe SLCPs lever is needed to reduce emissions by 50% to 100%. Off the shelf technologies are mostly available for the SLCPs but they have to be improved for scalability.

ATMOSPHERIC CARBON EXTRACTION LEVERThe ACE (Atmospheric Carbon Extraction) lever is required to pull and extract the CO2 that will be emitted beginning 2018 until the time we reach carbon neutrality.

LONG LIVED CLIMATE POLLUTANTS LEVERThe other major non-CO2 long-lived climate warming pollutant is nitrous oxide emitted by agriculture. Agriculture also emits methane (an SLCP). New techniques and bottom-up innovations are being developed to reduce N2O emissions from agriculture, promoting healthy soils without reducing crop yields.

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The C4S PlatformThere are currently many efforts to pull on all four levers but they are largely uncoordinated. The fundamental goal of C4S is to drastically reduce the time it takes from knowledge creation to actions in the field and thus accelerate the process of deploying scalable solutions within the state and in turn to rest of the nation. Towards this goal, C4S proposes to build a multi-institutional platform for climate actions and demonstration projects that will leverage existing research activity and expertise to attract additional intellectual and financial capital to address this complex challenge. The platform will consist of a coalition of innovators from academic, governmental, social, commercial and non-profit institutions in California that will test the efficacy of individual climate innovations for scalability, cost effectiveness and user-friendliness. The platform will focus on five major objectives:

Applied Knowledge Creation Work with the California academic community (public and private) to innovate and develop shovel-ready technology and education solutions and pilot projects.

Fund Generation Engage state agencies, Under2 MOU jurisdictions, entrepreneurs, federal agencies and foundations to ensure adequate funding for demonstration projects.

BETA Testing Work directly with industries, California academic institutions, mayors of cities who signed the 100% by 2035 renewables pledge, and other jurisdictions to successfully implement demonstration projects.

Private-Public Partnership Work with industries, foundations and state and local governments to accelerate, broaden and deepen commercialization in the early-adopter market.

Open Access Create an open data portal and transparent selection process with a collaborative governance model, in which criteria will center on creating local benefits for Californians in terms of job creation, resilience, public health with potential global GHG reductions at scale.

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Why California?California is one of the few states that can house such an ambitious collaborative, thanks to its unique assets. It has governmental institutions with a strong record of developing and implementing cutting-edge climate policies and hundreds of professionals in state government who work on climate change matters. This includes one of the world’s largest C pricing mechanisms in Cap and Trade. It fosters a culture of innovation and start-up companies. It has world-renowned academic institutions, industries with global reach, and above all, a population that supports sustainable practices. Public support is an essential asset for promoting sustainable technologies and practices that can protect habitats and people.

Public-Private partnerships

There are numerous examples of climate related partnerships within California. We list on the adjacent page few examples that are relevant to C4S.

Unique nature of the California Collaborative for Climate Change Solutions public-private partnership



University Climate Change Coalition (UC3)

Clean Tech San Diego

The California Clean Energy Fund (CCEF)

The University of California’s Global Climate Leadership Council, formed in 2013, has played an integral role in the formation of the new C4S, through the efforts of its Applied Research Working Group (ARWG), which has faculty and researcher representation from each of the 10 UC campuses, two affiliated national laboratories, and the Agricultural and Natural Resources division. In parallel with C4S’s climate leadership, a bold new University Climate Change Coalition, or UC3, was launched this February by the UC system and 12 distinguished partnering universities throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Committed to leveraging their research and resources to help communities accelerate climate action, together UC3 represents two million students, faculty and staff. The coalition has pledged to work together to help America’s climate leaders meet or exceed climate goals, and to ensure the U.S. remains a global leader in reducing carbon emissions. President Napolitano conceived of UC3 as a way to use their convening power and research expertise to inform and galvanize local and regional climate action. Every UC3 institution agreed to convene a climate change forum in 2018 to bring together community and business leaders, elected officials and other local stakeholders.

On March 1, the Working Group hosted a C4S planning meeting involving over 30 researchers and administrators from partner research institutions and state agencies to identify promising pilot projects that align with the C3S mission, and could potentially be supported by a combination of resources through the broad four-way partnership noted above. At the March 1 meeting, participants discussed 30 potential projects, involving science, societal- transformation, governance, market-based, technology, ecosystem-restoration, and impact-mitigation solutions.

The April 4 convening in Sacramento seeks to advance the shared goals for C4S and UC3. Outcomes from this meeting will also serve to help draft a consolidated UC3 report that will synthesize the best practices, policies and recommendations from all UC3 forums into a framework for continued progress on climate change goals across the nation and the world. That report will be released during the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2018.

Cleantech San Diego is a trade association founded in 2007 by visionary leaders from the private, public, and academic sectors who recognized a growing cleantech industry as the next great economic opportunity for the San Diego region. They were guided by the premise that sustainable business practices are viable only if they make financial sense.

Directed by this principle for the past ten years, the San Diego region has proven time and again that investment in a low carbon economy reaps benefits for innovation, business, collaboration, education, and the environment. Today, Cleantech San Diego represents more than 110 businesses, universities, governments, and nonprofits committed to advancing innovations that benefit the economy and the environment. The San Diego region currently ranks #4 in the nation for cleantech leadership and #1 in the nation for solar installations.

CCEF supports the ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors making our clean energy transition a reality. They drive innovation and build equity into the rising clean economy. CCEF works with the next wave of entrepreneurs through funds, programs, and networks that drive emerging trends in clean energy entrepreneurship, finance, and innovation. CCEF has seeded 3 of the first clean tech VC funds, taken early positions in over 70 companies, and pioneered new mechanisms for clean energy financing all as a nonprofit purpose-driven organization. Their current programs include the CalSEED.fund, which invested in 28 startups here in California in 2017; the CalTestBed initiative, to support commercialization of startups with the UC system; and the New Energy Nexus, a network of 70 incubators in 25 countries.

C4S will take advantage of the shared experiences of these climate partners as well as the challenges that they face.

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We need a coalition of amazing innovators from all social, commercial and non-profit institutions to innovate, evaluate, test and assess the efficacy of hundreds of individual innovations for scalability, cost effectiveness and user friendliness. We have a narrow window of opportunity – a decade at most – to unite and solve the problem before it is too late and billions will suffer the consequences.

Uniqueness of C4SThe proposed C4S effort is unique in its research and leadership capacity and multi-dimensional focus:

Its focus on scaling solutions to the nation and to the world, perfecting the California model to effectively transmit information to sub-nationals.

Leadership provided by the major academic institutions in California: the California State University system; Caltech; Stanford; all 10 campuses of the UC system; and the University of Southern California.

Recognition of the enormous multi-dimensional aspects of the climate change problem involving natural sciences, social sciences, technology, economics and ecology. C4S follows the six clusters solutions approach of UC’s bending the curve report: 1. Science Based Solutions; 2. Societal Transformation Solutions; 3. Governance Solutions; 4. Market & Regulations Based Solutions; 5. Technology Based Solutions; 6. Natural & Managed Ecosystem Solutions. Read the report: https://uc-carbonneutralitysummit2015.ucsd.edu/_files/Bending-the-Curve.pdf.

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The Path to Translate Research to Solutions



CriteriaHow can California accelerate its efforts to achieve carbon neutrality?

Where and how are these California-focused efforts working, and which ones can be scaled more widely?

How do we scale California’s efforts to national and international jurisdictions outside of California?

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ObjectivesTo accelerate the transfer of knowledge and technologies innovated in academic, government and private industries to the field in order to create, test and scale up solutions.

To develop and test innovative, scalable solutions through large-scale demonstration projects that will enable California to achieve its carbon neutrality and climate stability goals.

To scale these solutions to the nation and the world by partnering with more than 200 signatories of the Under2MOU initiated by the California government. These signatories are collectively responsible for more than one-third of global carbon emissions and nearly 40% of the global GDP.

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Characteristics of SolutionsC4S proposes convening experts from the private sector, academia and government to devise a core set of demonstration projects which meet the C4S mission statement and criteria of producing local benefits with global impact. The demonstration projects will include: massive transformation of society through innovative education projects targeting schools, colleges and adult education; testing advanced mini and micro grids of renewable power generation; developing hydrogen generated using solar energy as energy carrier; carbon extraction through soil restoration; innovative agriculture practices to reduce emissions of GHGs such as nitrous oxide and methane; restoration of soils and forests to capture atmospheric carbon; among others. The projects would address the following solutions clusters:

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

— Francis of Assisi

CLUSTER 1

Science Solutions Cluster Develop robust monitoring and evaluation of demonstration projects.

CLUSTER 2

Societal Transformation Solutions Cluster Create a massive increase in public support for climate mitigation.

CLUSTER 3

Governance Solutions Cluster Ensure local and state efforts are ambitious enough for the challenge.

CLUSTER 4

Market Mechanisms & Instruments Solutions Cluster Ensure solutions promote a just transition for all Californians as well as a future climate-smart workforce.

CLUSTER 5

Technology Solutions Cluster Find the innovative technologies that have maximum impact.

CLUSTER 6

Restoration of Agriculture, Forests and Soils Ensure efforts focus on reducing GHG’s from natural and managed lands and extraction of atmospheric carbon.

CLUSTER 7

Mitigating Impacts on Californians Ensure Californians are given the resources to adapt to the existing impacts of climate change.

The first seven clusters were taken from the University of California’s Bending the Curve Report (https://uc-carbonneu-tralitysummit2015.ucsd.edu/_files/Bending-the-Curve.pdf) and were motivated in part by the California experience in curbing air pollution emissions, as well as the bold steps the State has recently taken to bend the carbon curve. The core objective of C4S is to develop scalable solutions for all six clusters. These solutions represent an integrated approach that includes familiar goals for achieving carbon neutrality through renewable energy, with new goals for reducing short-lived climate pollutants immediately; building on California’s success to encourage sub-national governance, regulations, and market-based instruments; and pursuing innovative approaches in education, communication, and incentives to encourage attitudinal and behavioral changes.

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The following are examples of scalable, shovel-ready concepts for solutions discussed by cross-university partners at a recent summit in San Diego. In what follows, we list just the titles of potential solutions. A one-page explanation of each solution is given in the accompanying document titled: Snapshot of Scalable Solutions that will accelerate California’s climate mitigation actions. Importantly, these are not proposals for C4S at this stage. Rather, the intention here is to illustrate the richness and diversity of solution concepts that are emerging in California, reinforcing this important moment in history where all CA universities are poised to work with state government, private industries and inter-disciplinary colleagues to solve climate change from an array of perspectives.



Mitigation & Adaptation Solutions

Mitigation – Science SolutionsUrban Modeling to Prioritize GHG Mitigation: Tianzhen Hong and Mary Ann Piette, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Comprehensive Study on the Impact of Transportation on Climate Change in Kern County: Alan Fuchs, CSU Bakersfield

Determining, Predicting, Certifying, and Verifying C Sequestration in Ecosystems and Agroecosystems: Walter Oechel, Donatella Zona, Xiaofeng Xu, Fernando De Sales, and Doug Stow, CSU San Diego

Climate Change Impacts on Extreme Weather in California: Sen Chiao, CSU San Jose

Impacts of Deep Decarbonization on Public Health: Yifang Zhu and Kuo-Nan Liou, UC Los Angeles

The Climate and Jobs Case for California Recycling: Daniel Press, UC Santa Cruz

Food System Modeling for Climate Change Adaptation: Juliann Allison, David Crohn, Darrel Jenerette, UC Riverside

Mitigation – Market Mechanisms & InstrumentsCalifornia’s Energy Revolution and Just Transition: David Pellow, UC Santa Barbara

Deep Decarbonization Under Multiple Regulatory Models: Ann Carlson and William Boyd, UC Los Angeles

Mitigation – Societal TransformationEducating and Empowering Millions of Climate Warriors

K-12 Climate Literacy: Enhancing California’s NGSS: Forman Forman, UC San Diego Teenagers as Energy Conservation Stewards: Magali Delmas, UC Los Angeles Climate Change Solutions: Course for One Million Climate Warriors: V. Ramanathan, UC San Diego; Scott Friese and Alan Roper, UC Innovative Learning Technology Program; Laura Fandino, UC San Diego Extension; John Foran, UC-CSU Knowledge to Action Network

Mitigation – TechnologyLeverage $22M of CEC Living Lab Testing at UCs: Byron Washom, UC San Diego

Leverage $44M of Advanced Energy Communities: Byron Washom, UC San Diego

Leverage CEC Microgrids to 100% Renewable Supply: Byron Washom, UC San Diego

Cooperative Microgrids (Co-µGrid) Enabled via Integrated DER: Rajit Gadh, UC Los Angeles

Adaptive EV Charging in Microgrids with Renewables: Steven Low and Neil Fromer, Caltech

EVSmartPlug: Smart EV Charging with Max Green Energy: Rajit Gadh, UC Los Angeles

Low-Cost Thermal Energy Storage for Dispatchable CSP: Richard Wirz, UC Los Angeles

Electrolyzer-based Renewable Hydrogen Energy Ecosystem Scott Samuelsen, Jack Brouwer, Jeffrey Reed, UC Irvine

Accelerating California’s 20 GW Offshore Wind Power Opportunity: Arne Jacobson and Peter Lehman, CSU Humboldt; Peter Alstone, UC Berkeley Labor Center

Shared Electric Connected & Automated Transportation: Matthew Barth, UC Riverside

Using Smart Meters to Reduce Electricity Consumption: Wesley Schultz, CSU San Marcos

Accelerating the Clean Transportation Revolution: Dan Kammen, UC Berkeley and T. Matlock, UC Merced

Accelerating Natural Carbon Sequestration in Water Systems: Jess Adkins, Caltech

Creating Policy Hooks to Build Citizen Participation: Hahrie Han, UC Santa Barbara Climate Change and Beach Nourishment in Morro Bay, California: Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in Biology, Chemistry, and Geology: Joshua Reece, Beth Weinman, Mara Brady, Eric Person, Aric Mine, CSU Fresno Changing the Climate Change Conversation: Viviane Seyranian, CSU Pomona Education as a Climate Change Mitigation Measure: Eugene Cordero, CSU San Jose

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Mitigation – Atmospheric Carbon Extraction (Technology)Direct Carbon Capture Using Serpentinite Fluids:Roger D. Aines and Peter B. Kelemen, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Columbia University

Electrochemical Carbon Capture for Load-Following Power: Scott Samuelsen, Jack Brouwer, Jeffrey Reed, UC Irvine

Transforming Carbon Dioxide Emissions into Concrete: Gaurav Sant, UC Los Angeles

Mitigation – Atmospheric Carbon Extraction (Forest, Soils, Agriculture and Land)CO2 Enhancement of Anaerobic Digestion:Arun Raju, UC Riverside

Integrated Microalgae Carbon Capture System:Farshid Zabihian, CSU Sacramento

Feeding the World Without Green House Gas Emissions: Benjamin Houlton, UC Davis

Accelerating Natural Carbon Sequestration in Water Systems: Jess Adkins, Caltech

A Forest-Restoration Strategy for California: Linking Carbon, Water, Fire and Conservation: Roger Bales, UC Merced

Multiple Benefit Land Management: Christopher Field, Stanford University

Microbial Population Dynamics and Greenhouse Gas Production Under Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation: Arlene Haffa, Sharifa Crandall, Nathaniel Jue, and Stefanie Kortman CSU Monterey Bay; Carol Shennan and Joji Muramoto, UC Santa Cruz

Large-Scale Fog Water Collection for Reforestation: Daniel Fernandez, CSU Monterey Bay

Reducing Uncertainty in Net Ecosystem Carbon Balance in Coastal Wetlands: Patty Oikawa, CSU East Bay

Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Compost Amendments to Rangeland Ecosystems: Whendee Silver, UC Berkeley

Management of California Shrublands for Carbon Sequestration Watershed, Air Quality, Wildlife, and Bioenergy: Walter Oechel, Donatella Zona, Trent Biggs, and Asfaw Beyene, CSU San Diego

Net Energy and Life Cycle Impacts of Waste Biomass Use: D. Rajagopal, UC Los Angeles



Adaptation – Building Resilience for CaliforniansCoral Reefs at High CO2: Risks and Opportunities for Mitigation: Robert C. Carpenter and Peter J. Edmunds, CSU Northridge

Smart Glasshouses for Food, Water and Energy Use: Michael Loik and Sue A. Carter, UC Santa Cruz; Lisa P. Bentley, CSU Sonoma

Indigenous Leadership in Climate Solutions: Beth Rose Middleton, UC Davis

Smarter Building, Landscaping, and Paving with Cool Surfaces, Shade Trees, and Low-Carbon Pavements: Ronnen Levinson and George Ban-Weiss, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of Southern California

Can Marine Protected Areas Promote Resilience in the Face of Climate Change?: Kerry Nickols, CSU Northridge; Adrian Stier and Nicholas Nidzieko, UC Santa Barbara; Tom Bell, UC Los Angeles

Seagrass Enhancement for Increasing CO2 Sequestration Habitat, Recreation, and Water Quality in San Diego Bay:Walter Oechel, Donatella Zona, Kevin Hovel, and Alexander Carsh, CSU San Diego

Genomic Analysis of Ecosystem Health: H. Bradley Shaffer, Thomas Smith and Thomas Gillespie, UC Los Angeles

Advanced Energy for Disadvantaged Communities: Stephanie Pincetl, UC Los Angeles

Expanding Existing EffortsThe goal of C4S—to speed the transition and scale-up of proven demonstration projects and technologies through public-private partnerships —complements and builds on existing state efforts. C4S as currently conceived would provide local benefits in terms of jobs, economy, resilience and community justice while working across state-borders for translational global impact, leveraging and bolstering the Under2 coalition among others. C4S would work to ensure that “What happens in California does not stay in California,” nurturing technologies that could be rapidly scaled up in other states and throughout the world.

To be effective, this integrated strategy requires engagement by diverse stakeholders including cultural and faith-based leaders, communication experts and media, and the creation of a culture of climate action through localized interventions that lower barriers for citizens to take concrete steps to participate in solving our climate crisis.

Demonstration projects would be chosen through an anonymous and rigorous peer review process, consisting of experts from external academic, governmental, and private institutions. The next section elaborates on the proposed governance of C4S.

Selection of Demonstration Projects:

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Initiation and establishment of C4S governance and process will occur in two phases. Phase I represents the initial management structure for the Collaborative, from now until C4S is formally announced by the State. Phase II represents the eventual management structure for C4S governance, processes and business operations, which will identify, fund, oversee, and coordinate demonstration projects, creating a clearinghouse for climate solutions.

Each phase will be optimized to support the core mission of the Collaborative, culminating in a sustainable, self-sufficient and globally inter-connected network of solutions. The logic is that multiple phases will allow for adaptive leaning, transparency and invite stakeholder engagement as C4S launches demonstration projects in California. The proposed Phase II (final) conceptual framework for C4S governance is illustrated here.

Proposed Governance Structure



Proposed conceptual framework for C4S governance (Phase II).The three interacting pillars of the C4S strategy are Academic, Government, and Private. An External Advisory Board will provide objective guidance and oversight of C4S operations. The External Advisory Board will be composed of a non-C4S core, involving representatives from each of the pillars (Academic, Government, Private). In addition, a Steering Committee composed of C4S participants will provide additional guidance on C4S decision making, process and governance. C4S will facilitate internal and external relations and form the basis for C4S decisions and implementation, interacting with a set of geographic hubs and fostering cross-agency collaboration with the state. Hubs (for example, Northern California and Southern California) will provide regional context to foster communications and outreach efforts in concert with the centralized unit (C4S box above). Hubs will seek to organize funded PIs, establish working groups to further develop the “big ideas” for the solutions clusters (above). Hubs will be established at institutions determined by the launch steering committee during Phase I and may be competed for on a rotating basis. Administrative Functions will operate at C4S, where the competitive and project selection process will be administered. IT and data operations, including the establishment of the open access data portal, will also be facilitated by C4S. A Program Administrator appointed by the State will serve on its behalf with respect to the goals of the State and their interests. Project selection will involve peer review and (external) panelists with expertise in the different Solutions Clusters, with final decisions on project selection made in consultation with State Agencies.

Government

Academic Private

C4S(Chair)

SteeringCommittee

(advisory)

Peer Review / RFP Process • Review & award • External Review & Assessment

Principle InvestigatorsHubsSolution Clusters

State AgencyCollaboration

(Program Administrator)

External AdvisoryBoard

Administrative Functions(Chief Administrative Officer)

Legal / Intellectual PropertiesFinance

Human ResourcesMarketing / Outreach / Development

Data InfomaticsEthics and Economics

RFP Post AwardBoard / Committee / RFP Review

Administative Support

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In Phase II, project selection will be based on a transparent peer-reviewed selection process, including feedback from an External and Internal Advisory Boards. General selection criteria, including those that bring the greatest value to California (in terms of economic growth/jobs, resilience, public health, and meeting the needs of disadvantaged communities) and have the potential to scale to giga-tons of greenhouse gas reductions, will be created via stakeholder engagement.

Phases I and II of C4S governance and function will be semi-overlapping. As illustrated above, Phase I will focus on creating the initial framework and infrastructure to support C4S business operations, administration, oversight and selection of demonstration projects. It will also focus on the creation of an RFP process to facilitate project selection. Phase II will ensure that process and governance are effectively streamlined and firmly established as guiding principles for long-term sustainability and global impact. A feasibility assessment will be used to establish clear benchmarks for success and strengthen limitations as C4S develops into a globally-connected model for scalable climate solutions.

Proposed initial management structure for C4S (Phase I).Proposed initial framework and infrastructure to support C4S business operations, administration, oversight and selection of demonstration projects.

CSU UCSystem

CANational

Lab

Phase 1 LeadershipBenjamin Houlton & V. Ram Ramanathan

(Co-Chairs)

PrivateCA

Univ.

State Government

SGCState Collaborators

(Program Administrator)

Private Industry& Foundations

Phase 1

Phase 2

Best Practices in Grant-Making & Program Administration

In collaboration with State government, the purpose of Phase I is to create an RFP process to provide initial sources of funds to launch demonstration projects. The goal of Phase I is to create a launch team tasked with delegated authority to oversee the following:

Building on the governance, oversight and transparent models developed in Phase I, Phase II will further cement best business practices that perfect C4S operations and create a global network of scalable solutions and partnerships. Specific activities will include:

C4S will draw on the vast and well-tested experiences of the participating universities, government agencies and foundations in funding projects, administration of funds from multiple sources and a transparent consultative as well as anonymous peer review process.

• Hold stakeholder engagement activities to identify the most important, shovel ready demonstration projects

• Create a transparent RFP process and scientific peer review mechanism – ensuring Impartial review and awarding of projects

• Create C4S, with recruitment of leaders for areas under administrative functions.

• Assign a State Funding Program Manager – to provide broad oversight of state funds, and work in tandem with leadership in the Northern and Southern C4S hubs

• Develop External Advisory Board to consult C4S and create specific criteria for project selection

• Create open data platform the ensures open access of C4S findings

• Further establish State Granting agreements and practices to be efficient, flexible and accessible; look at national models whereby Congress has authorized unique authority to bypass typical governmental contracting regulations

• Create electronic RFP submission and peer-review portal with external reviewers, including those outside C4S

• Create larger Academic state industry/agency cross-collaborations, along with other government AND other private sector and non-profit non-governmental agencies; enhancing and supporting external funding along with state and federal funding.

• Establish Intellectual Property Management framework such that private research investment is encouraged

• Address treatment and dissemination of research tools, publicly accessible data bases and open-access publishing

• Foster large scale global climate interests and solutions aligned with Under2MOU among other sub-nationals

• Review role of State Program Administrator, in larger context once infusion of non-governmental funding, multi-country alliance is established.

• Establish/implement administrative functions, best practices and policies; inclusive of charters and delegated authority.

Phase 1 & Phase 2 Overview

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Funding Strategy

Way Forward:



California in the Global Context

The governor’s 2018-19 budget proposes a number of new investments in climate and clean energy research, including $35 million in state cap and trade revenue to fund the development of innovative climate change technologies. C4S members are currently engaged in discussions about how the group might work with the state agencies in support of this initiative as it moves forward. C4S is also discussing internally how it might engage with Under2 MOU jurisdictions, federal agencies, foundations and other funders regarding support for the conceptualization and execution of pilot projects. The April 4th brainstorming session is the first step towards these goals.

Commercialization of Solutions

Global leadership in climate solutions science provides a platform to compete in the global market place for green technologies and social innovation strategies. China is investing in green technologies that could equal what the rest of the world is doing; however, China does not yet have the research and innovation capacity of California. If California chooses wisely, and invests adequately in the areas it pursues, it can compete all the way to scale-up. In another area critical to California’s economic future, biotechnology, half-billion-dollar scale investments in research translation are the new norm. Scaling up to the global level is a challenge unique to climate solutions science and requires larger funding than in biotech, where private industry takes over at an earlier stage. The objectives of C4S will not be achieved without concerted efforts such as the one proposed here. The required resources are enormous, but so is the problem we have to solve which threatens all life and social systems on the planet.

The required knowledge is primarily created by researchers in academia, government laboratories, and industry. This knowledge-to-action prioritization would enable C4S to act as incubator for ideas that are ready for prime time and prepare them for demonstration – so-called beta testing – in the field in local communities (in the case of Societal Transformation Solutions), universities and colleges (in the case of Technology Based Solutions), and/or cities (in the case of Governance Solutions, Market & Regulations Based Solutions, and Technology Based Solutions). It will be necessary for C4S to generate funds for such field demonstrations, and this will be the focus of this section.

The public-private partnership approach of C4S has the potential to accelerate, broaden, and deepen the commercialization of viable solutions that will be embraced by the early-adopter marketplace. The scaling success also depends critically on the pull of policy actions by government to incent and persuade people to adapt the new technologies. In addition, commercialization of the tested solutions is key for accelerating the solutions. One of the major goals of the April 4th meeting is to brainstorm strategies for commercialization of the successful demonstration projects.

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Societal Transformation Governanace

Technology Measures Markets and R

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SciencePathways

Projections for 2100

Carbon Neutral-1.5°C

SLCPs-1.2°CEnergy

Efficiency-0.9°C

ACE-0.5°C

Cooling and Stabilizing ClimateThe magnitude of potential cooling by 2100 that can be achieved by the Carbon lever, Short Lived Climate Pollutants lever, and Atmospheric Carbon Extraction lever if implemented well before 2030. Energy efficiency by itself can cool only by 0.9°C.


Climate Change Solutions 33

Coming together to solve climate change.

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