Stockton accepts $1 million federal climate planning grant to update Climate Action Plan

The Stockton City Council voted unanimously to accept a $1,000,000 federal grant to support an updated Climate Action Plan (CAP) that staff say will produce more detailed, implementable, grant-ready projects and a vulnerability assessment for city facilities.

Greg Kirkpatrick, the city's environmental and sustainability officer, explained the $1,000,000 award came via a federal block-grant allocation and supplements an earlier $650,000 award from the APGP program and about $316,000 from the Department of Energy's EECBG program. Kirkpatrick said the combined funding will allow the city to hire consultants, fund robust community engagement (through subagreements with nonprofits), and develop specific project schematics (for example, solar-shaded parking and municipal facility energy-efficiency studies) that make the CAP "shelf ready" for subsequent grant applications.

Staff said they had issued an RFP to identify a lead consultant and expected a consultant recommendation by July or late August if timeline slips occur. Council members asked about alignment with state rebate programs, inclusion of clean-vehicle and electrification strategies, and the plan's integration with other regional efforts; staff said regional partners and air district programs will be included in the process.

The resolution to accept the federal grant and associated administrative funding passed 7-0. Staff noted roughly 25% of the grant budget is allocated to grant administration (staff and program management), with the rest going to consultant work, community engagement, and materials.

Council requested regular updates as the CAP development proceeds and emphasized the value of creating grant-ready project packages to improve competitiveness for future funding.