The Hammond Climate Solutions team is excited to celebrate our second year creating a more just and livable future together!  Since our social enterprise was founded by Tara and Justin Hammond in 2020, we have been on a mission to combat the climate crisis and climate injustices through leveraging dynamic solutions through climate project management, advocacy and policy.  The past two years have brought incredible growth, positive impact and community building, and we are grateful to reflect on all that we have collectively created just within the past year.  Feel free to check out our blog post from last year that celebrated our first year’s accomplishments.

Before jumping into reflections on our efforts, we’d like to highlight our newest team member, Maya Steinberg!  Maya joins the Hammond Climate Solutions team as our Climate Justice Development Manager, and is helping us generate a greater positive impact through managing clean energy programs and projects, and seeking funding opportunities to enhance current and future initiatives.  We’re thrilled to have her onboard, and are excited for the impact she’ll have on fulfilling our mission.

We also want to sincerely thank our clients, partners, climate champions and climate activists for your dedication and contributions to lessening the impact of the climate crisis. 

Clean Energy Initiative Management & Consulting

Over the past year, our team has been a part of 406 solar projects that have collectively deployed 213,525.9kW of solar across 37 states and Puerto Rico.  This translates into 5.3 megatons of carbon offset, ensuring clean air and creating healthy communities that have reduced reliance on dirty fossil fuels while supporting green jobs and stimulating the economy.

In 2021, thanks to our client Left Coast Fund, we had another $1 million budget for the Solar Moonshot Program, a no-fee grant initiative we manage that helps nonprofit organizations afford the switch solar.  This year alone, the Solar Moonshot Program supported 42 nonprofit organizations in adopting a combined total of 1,116.5kW of solar power and three solar thermal projects.  Each grant allows the receiving organization to reinvest in its mission, reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and climate injustices, improve the quality of life of its community members and educate the community about the feasibility and importance of solar in combating the climate crisis.  We secured additional funding for the Solar Moonshot Program to continue in 2022, thanks to clients Left Coast Fund and BQuest Foundation.  Read more about the Solar Moonshot Program’s impact in 2021 by checking out our recent blog post here.

We continued management of the e-bike “ride off” programs with Climate Action Campaign and Business for Good San Diego, where riders are loaned an e-bike and every mile ridden is $1 off of the loan.  The goal is for participants to own the bike for no money out-of-pocket by successfully riding off the mileage.  This helped increase adoption of e-bikes as a form of clean energy transportation, reducing thousands of vehicle miles travelled since the programs began.  Hammond Climate Solutions has been involved with Pedal Ahead, an e-bike ride off program that was formed by San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, in partnership with Rider Safety Visibility, with the e-bikes generously funded by our client, Left Coast Fund.  Through this program, e-bikes are available for those living in San Diego County Supervisorial District 4.  Since the program began in September 2020, over 160,000 miles have been ridden by participants, averaging 10 miles per day, which translates into over 160,000 vehicle miles offset, and communities that are healthier, have cleaner air and can enjoy a greater quality of life.  

Late last year, we helped a local foundation apply for $42,000 in rebates from the California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (CALeVIP) for electric vehicle charging stations to help expand access to clean transportation for communities of concern.  This summer, five electric vehicle chargers with eight total charging ports were installed at two campuses for a San Diego nonprofit organization that has a mission of maximizing self-sufficiency with families and individuals through high-quality programs and advocacy in communities. 

We provided clean energy development services for engineering firms such as Black & Veatch, financing companies such as Fellowship Energy, and contractors such as Aloha Solar Power.  We also worked directly with a number of nonprofits, businesses and a special district to provide independent energy analyses, feasibility studies and request for proposal (RFP) support for their clean energy endeavors.  The projects we served ranged from small scale commercial (under 30 kilowatts) to large scale multi-facility (over 1 megawatt) sized jobs.  Learn more about these services here. 

Pushing for Climate Policy 

Hammond Climate Solutions has had the pleasure of providing our climate policy expertise to local solar companies that are seeking to stay ahead of changes to policies like net energy metering, California’s rooftop solar agreement that has allowed solar to make sense financially for 1,300,000 California families, businesses, cities, schools, nonprofit organizations and multi-family property owners.  In addition to our policy advising, our team has been working tirelessly over the past year to help pass policies that would advance climate justice.  Most recently, we have been fighting for an equitable future solar agreement in California, net metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0), the latest update to the solar policy, through advocacy on the local and state levels.  Last year, we helped the Solar Rights Alliance start a local and statewide coalition, now known as Save CA Solar, to fight for an equitable and sustainable rooftop solar industry in California by advocating for a strong NEM 3.0 policy.  This year, we helped grow that coalition through releasing almost 10 blog posts, creating and sharing toolkits with calls to action, participating in countless meetings and webinars, and presenting to community groups, organizations and elected officials whenever possible.  Check out our most recent blog post on this critical issue, written by our Climate Justice Policy Advisor, Karinna Gonzalez.

Through participating in over 1,000 meetings, calls and public comments and signing onto over 30 letters in the past year alone, we fought for local and statewide policies that would create a more just and livable future and against those that would hinder our progress.  Some of the climate policies we advocated for include building electrification ordinances across the San Diego region to electrify new construction, updates to Climate Action Plans within the County of San Diego and cities in the region to move us to zero carbon, resolutions advocating for a more environmentally sound solar agreements, funding related to stormwater infrastructure, franchise agreements in the City of San Diego, defeating the “anti-solar bill” Assembly Bill 1139 and more.  Read more about our climate policy efforts over the past year, which also include advocating for policies to achieve zero carbon via Climate Action Plans, Community Choice Energy and building electrification, as well as world class transit,  in the recently-published blog post written by our Climate Justice Policy Advisor, Karinna Gonzalez.

Climate & Climate Justice Advocacy

Hammond Climate Solutions is a proud member of 15 nonprofit organizations and an active member of various coalitions.  Our team is pleased to have served in various leadership roles in 2021:

• Vice chair, San Diego Community Power Community Advisory Committee 
• Steering committee member, San Diego Green New Deal Alliance
• Executive committee member, Surfrider Foundation San Diego
• Board member, Climate Defenders Action Fund
• Board member, GRID Alternatives San Diego 
• Steering committee co-chair, San Diego Building Electrification Coalition
• Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resource Development chair, San Diego Green New Deal Alliance 
• Chair, California Solar & Storage Association, San Diego 
• Member, California Solar & Storage Association Policy Committee 
• Co-lead, South Bay Eco Justice team, SanDiego350 
• Member, California Green New Deal Coalition Storytelling Working Group

This year, we continued to work alongside fellow members and community partners within the San Diego Green New Deal Alliance to achieve our collective goal of reaching zero carbon by 2035 through advocating for community-based solutions like a world-class clean transportation system, family-sustaining union jobs and a just transition, transit-oriented housing solutions and building electrification.  In partnership with other members of the San Diego Green New Deal Alliance, we helped organize events around these critical solutions and issues, including President Joe Biden’s budget reconciliation bill, bike lane expansions in San Diego, holding polluting corporations like Sempra accountable for greenwashing and ensuring energy democracy through community choice energy with our regional provider, San Diego Community Power.

We also helped organize four San Diego Climate Hub events in 2021, which virtually brought folx together from across the country to discuss potential solutions to pressing climate issues such as housing and the climate crisis, transportation, water issues and a just transition.  Be sure to follow the San Diego Climate Hub on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on upcoming actions and events, and save the date for the next quarterly Climate Hub event, which is taking place on 3/31/2022. 

Awards & Recognitions 

Hammond Climate Solutions is grateful to have been recognized for the efforts we have undertaken thus far in climate leadership, advocacy, clean energy program management and policy.  This year, Hammond Climate Solutions’ founders Tara and Justin Hammond were honored with awards for their climate leadership, from Business for Good San Diego’s Environment Champion Award given to Tara Hammond, to the Hometown Heroes award, which Justin was named by his local town council.  Read more about the recognitions that were received in our recent blog post.

Looking Ahead to 2022 

In addition to continuing our climate advocacy, policy efforts and existing climate programs like the Solar Moonshot Program and e-bike ride off programs, two key initiatives to look out for include the “Fossil Fuel Free Pledge,” an initiative with the San Diego Climate Hub, which recognizes nonprofit organizations that are refusing to accept money from fossil fuel corporations, and the “San Diego Climate Report Card,” which we’re launching in partnership with Climate Defenders Action Fund and League of Conservation Voters San Diego to bring accountability to elected officials in the City of San Diego and County of San Diego for their climate action results.  We are hopeful that in 2022 the Climate Hub organizations will be able to work together under one roof at the solar-powered Climate Hub in Hillcrest, San Diego, as originally planned prior to the pandemic. 

We’ll be sharing details on other programs for 2022 in the coming weeks, some of which will serve as pilot programs and proof of concept to lay the foundation for bigger programs for cities, community choice programs and legislation. 

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement that we will be sharing in early 2022!  Connect with us on social media at Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and to ensure you receive updates in the future, sign up for our newsletter by heading to our website.

We look forward to working with all of you in 2022 to create a more just and livable future!