As the nation’s largest natural gas utility, we are well aware of our responsibility to implement sustainable practices and remain a sound environmental steward. And, we gladly embrace this role. We are proud to serve a region that places a high priority on environmental issues, with a wide array of organizations dedicated to important causes, such as urban greening, beach cleanups and clean air initiatives.
Our Activities in 2023:
Earth Month 2023
Nearly 100 SoCalGas volunteers participated in six Earth Month events throughout our service territory. Nonprofit organizations included LA Compost, the California State Parks Foundation, Friends of the Desert Mountains, Friends of Ballona Wetlands, and Ventura Land Trust.
SoCal Climate Champions Grant Initiative
In 2023, 13 Innovators were awarded grants through the SoCal Climate Champions Grant totaling $400,000. The program was designed to encourage and foster clean, safe, and innovative solutions towards a clean energy future. Awards were given for climate solution projects that aimed to reduce, mitigate, and sequester greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improve air quality, or provide organic waste diversion solutions in the communities SoCalGas serves.
2023 SoCal Climate Champions include:
- AltaSea: AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles was funded to help establish its ‘Marine Energy & Clean Air’(MECA) Center to support research, demonstration, commercial translation, education, workforce development, and entrepreneurship activities and initiatives across renewable marine energy and carbon sequestration sectors. The program will have an international reach, grounded in the experiential learning MECA Center located on the AltaSea campus in San Pedro.
- Trust for Public Land: Trust for Public Land (TPL) launched the Los Angeles Green Schoolyards Initiative (the Initiative) to build more resilient and equitable communities in Los Angeles County, especially for children and vulnerable populations. The Initiative aims to fundamentally change how public schoolyards are designed and built by applying community input and nature-based climate solutions that transform asphalt covered school playgrounds into verdant green schoolyards and opening them for public recreation outside of school hours.
- GrowingGreat: In “Compost to Ozone,” GrowingGreat empowers Inglewood and Los Angeles middle school students to take the lead as spokespeople and educators mitigating the effects of climate change in their community through a four-pronged, project-based program created by GrowingGreat and the students themselves. Shared with teens nationwide, activities include a comprehensive composting activities, an ozone garden to measure air quality, STEM activities for inner-city children, and student-led agribusiness enterprises to explore a circular economy.
- Wyland Foundation: Climate Quest: Mobile Tour for Water, Energy, and Planet takes place aboard the acclaimed Wyland Foundation Mobile Environmental Education Center. The center's onboard 40-person theater will be completely reimagined as an interstellar space vehicle with 250 square feet of 4k video arrays and custom-created audio-visual content to introduce student voyagers to fundamental aspects of Earth's climate system and recent changes. Students use their knowledge to explore potential behaviors and technological solutions to restore ecological balance.
- Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association: The Tournament of Roses will provide containers for organic waste, recyclables, and trash to be collected by Cal Poly Rose Float (Cal Poly Pomona). To reduce contamination, float decorators will be educated on how to properly sort material into the correct containers. The material will be hauled to an MRF, where clean streams of organics will be recycled into compost, establishing a model that can be scaled to support other float builders in the future.
A complete list of the 2023 grant recipients can be found here.