Funded through the state’s Cap-and-Invest Program, CARB has directed $632 million to more than 9000 incentive projects since 2017, with 85% of the funding reaching disadvantaged and low-income communities, far exceeding investment targets set by the Board.

The projects vary widely across the state based on community priorities including:

• Swapping out thousands of dirty old lawnmowers with electric replacements for landscapers and residents throughout the San Joaquin Valley.
• Reducing dust exposure by funding paving of school parking lots, urban greening projects, and installing air filtration systems in schools in the Imperial Valley.
• Helping fund a first-in-the-nation electric tugboat at the Port of San Diego, which will eliminate 30,000 gallons of diesel pollution per year.

The projects are producing permanent, enforceable reductions in harmful air pollutants, including reducing:

• 23,000+ tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx ), equivalent to removing about 22.5 million cars from the road for an entire year.
• 950 tons of diesel particulate matter, equivalent to annual emissions from up to two million heavy-duty trucks.
• 282,600 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to emissions from driving a gasoline-powered car nearly 872 million miles.

On-the-Ground Progress

The report highlights several community-driven successes across California including:

• West Oakland: In West Oakland, a combination of actions, which included incentives to repower 13 tugboats with cleaner engines, existing and new statewide regulations, and other changes, led to a 31% reduction in cancer-causing diesel emissions between 2017 and 2024, across an area of 29,000 residents.
• Shafter, Eastern Coachella Valley, and Arvin/Lamont: Communities in Shafter, Arvin and Lamont in Kern County, and in East Coachella Valley advocated for a pesticide notification strategy in their plans, which eventually led to Governor Newsom allocating $10 million to the Department of Pesticide Regulation for a statewide regulatory pesticide use notification system for neighborhoods near agricultural operations.
• Arvin/Lamont, Shafter, and South Los Angeles: CARB’s California Methane Task Force conducted 232 well and nine tank inspections in coordination with the California Geologic Energy Management Division, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, addressing methane leaks and issuing notices of violation where needed.
• San Ysidro’s International Border Communities: With support from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, CARB launched a pilot air monitoring project to study cross-border emissions, border wait times, traffic pollution, odors from the Tijuana River, and other community concerns. Real-time monitoring of air pollutants is now underway.
• South Los Angeles: CARB proposed amendments to two rules that reduce cancer-causing volatile organic compounds from motor vehicle assembly and solvent cleaning operations in response to community concern.