SF lands $1 million grant from federal EPA

San Francisco environmental officials say a recent $1 million federal grant is an unprecedented award of federal money earmarked to ensure The City’s most vulnerable residents are protected from the effects of climate change .

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week awarded the grant to the San Francisco Environment Department as part of its effort to support local municipalities in assisting neighborhoods that have been disproportionately affected by climate change. The $1 million allotment is the largest award the agency can dole out as part of the program.

“In the last four years or so, we’ve seen deeper prioritization by the federal government to support equity focused and climate focused projects, which is really exciting,” Sraddha Metha, community program director at the San Francisco Environmental Department, told The Examiner. “Grant funding is critical to helping the department achieve its goals — and, as with most of the grants the department has received in the past, these funds will allow us to provide direct support to communities to address their needs.”

Environment Department officials said they are prioritizing knocking down barriers preventing disadvantaged San Franciscans from accessing green technologies, such as heat-pump water heaters or induction cooktops. Transitioning to these energy-efficient electric devices is especially key in the Bay Area, where all new space heaters and water heaters are required to be zero-emission by 2030. The City aims to be completely carbon-neutral by 2040 .

Mayor London Breed said last week that The City’s greenhouse-gas emissions have fallen in half since 1990 even as San Francisco’s population has grown 12%.

“Our team knows that climate-action solutions must include everyone, and this funding will help us make sure that no one gets left behind,” Metha said.

She said the grant money will specifically be allocated towards bolstering its partnerships with San Francisco community organizations and allowing them to both design and lead climate solutions.

One of The City’s longtime partners is People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights, a grassroots environmental-advocacy organization focused on supporting San Francisco’s Latino immigrant families.

PODER executive director Antonio Diaz said that for smaller community-based organizations such as his, the thought of accessing federal funds is “pretty daunting” because of the complex application process and the type of infrastructure required to report the funds.

“I think that when the city government is able to access that funding, and with an intentionality to partner with community-based organizations to support the work and advance these community-led solutions, I think that’s definitely very key to the success of the vision the Biden administration has to invest in disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods,” Diaz explained.

But Diaz said he’s worried that critical federal climate investments like this could disappear should former President Donald Trump win the presidential election in November.

“It’s clear that there’s that practice in one administration and in the previous one and potentially an upcoming one, all we get is climate denialism,” Diaz said. “I think it’s pretty clear that if we have another go-around of a Republican administration, that not only would these investments no longer be there, but we would actually even be on the further offensive of trying to advance community-led solutions when the federal government is even hostile to the thought that such a thing exists.”