Community Environmental Council Releases Report on Impact of Climate Action
Impact Report highlights the ways CEC is working to ensure a climate-safe California Central Coast
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (July 10, 2025) – The Community Environmental Council (CEC) has released its most recent Impact Report, which shares key highlights of how CEC is converting a historically oil producing region to one that is regenerative and renewable. The report is accessible at cecsb.org/impact.
At a time when the federal administration’s regressive climate policies threaten to unravel years of progress, California serves as a critical safeguard, and its stance will determine whether the United States advances or regresses by decades in climate protection. Central Coast communities play a vital role by providing courage, backbone, and proof of concept that strengthen and inform statewide policies.
“Now is the moment — when things get dark and chaotic — when lighthouse communities like ours are most needed,” said CEO Sigrid Wright. “Despite the unexpected loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding, we are more determined than ever to ensure that Central Coast lighthouses remain lit.”
In the absence of a federal climate action plan, subnational climate leadership like CEC’s is the only path forward. In 2025, CEC has adjusted its focus to meet the realities and opportunities of the era we now find ourselves in. Their action plan:
Resist federal rollbacks and maintain California’s position as a climate leader, providing a model for national and global action
Protect vulnerable communities on the Central Coast from the immediate impacts of climate change
Ensure that the green transition is rapid, equitable, and achievable
Convert public angst into action — including providing skills and outlets for the voices of youth
Transform the Central Coast from a fossil fuel-dependent region to a living laboratory for climate innovation
This report highlights CEC’s work in 2024 and demonstrates how CEC is working every day to ensure that the California Central Coast region is a tangible, real-world model of what healthy, equitable, climate-safe communities can look like. Highlights include:
Providing concierge services in Spanish and English that have helped nearly 1,000 residents, businesses, and nonprofits navigate options, financial incentives, and resources to make EV ownership and charging accessible and affordable
Leveraging over $5 million in regional, state, and federal funding to directly assist farmers, ranchers, and land stewards in implementing carbon farming solutions
Training hundreds of community members to stand up for climate action and push forward thousands of solutions, one neighborhood at a time.
About the Community Environmental Council (CEC)
CEC advances rapid and equitable solutions to the climate crisis – including ambitious zero carbon goals, drawdown of excess carbon, and protection against the impacts of climate change. CEC was recognized as a 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year and a City of Santa Barbara Climate Hero, and is led by CEO Sigrid Wright who was recently named 2022 Congressional Woman of the Year. CEC has worked since 1970 to incubate and innovate real life environmental solutions that directly affect the California Central Coast. Our programs lead to clean vehicles, solar energy, resilient food systems and reduction of single-use plastic. Learn more about the work of CEC and why it receives high ratings from both Charity Navigator and Guidestar at CECSB.org/impact.
Find CEC on the web at CECSB.org and on Facebook.com/CECSB, Instagram.com/CEC_SB, and Linkedin.com/company/cecsb/.
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