Seizing the Mantle in 2025: Turning Climate Setbacks Into Climate Action
The landscape of climate action feels like it’s shifting beneath our feet. From federal leadership relinquishing leadership on climate science and clean energy, to attacks on climate science, the undercutting of the Biden-era EPA Endangerment Principle, and the massive energy consumption of growing AI data centers, where do we stand, how will local communities, and the most vulnerable communities be impact, and where do we make a stand? The answers aren’t always clear. But what is clear is that our local networks, agencies, and grassroots movements are more important than ever. CRBA is spotlighting four campaigns that invite reflection and action — and we’d love for you to be part of the conversation.
By Keith Nickolaus, PhD, CRBA Writers Team
Editor’s Note: This post introduces four priority campaigns CRBA is lifting up for the remainder of 2025. From federal climate rollbacks, to building electrification in San Francisco, to stopping risky carbon capture projects, to spotlighting AI’s growing energy demands, these campaigns reflect the challenges — and opportunities — facing our communities right now. Our aim here is to orient readers, share why these issues matter, and invite you to join us in the work ahead.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Introduction
A lot is happening at the federal level, with major changes to climate science and policy. These shifts raise questions:
What comes next for our communities?
Where should concerned SF Bay Area residents and climate activists focus their attention?
With this in mind, CRBA leadership is working hard to get our communities up to speed on a handful of critical climate issues, in order to:
inform readers on federal attacks on climate science and climate agency funding
inspire action through examples of ways committed citizens, civic leaders, scientists, and business leaders really do make a difference and stand up for what’s right — for planet earth and for generations to come
mobilize and support urgent coalition building for actions and initiatives already taking flight but which need more local support, now
From electrifying San Francisco’s buildings and protecting local wetlands against fossil fuel development, to understanding fast-changing federal policy and funding changes and their local impacts, to the emerging climate risks posed by expanding AI data centers, this post offers a quick glimpse at issues CRBA is putting at the forefront of our agenda over for the remainder of 2025.
Please join the conversations and consider if now is the time to get involved or get more involved.
Why This Matters
When national priorities turn away from climate leadership, the ripple effects reach us locally. If climate science gets underfunded, how will that affect flood warnings or wildfire tracking here in California? If risky projects like carbon capture pipelines are approved, what will that mean for wetlands and neighborhoods in Solano County? And with AI and data centers demanding more and more electricity, how might our local grid — and our household energy bills — be affected? These questions remind us why Bay Area organizing matters, even more in uncertain times.
The CRBA Writers Team pledges to share climate truths you can trust — not noise.
Sharing information grounded in facts, science, reputable media, and cited openly, our work cuts through disinformation to empower our community toward climate action and justice.
The Local Angle
In the Bay Area, we may have a temperate climate, but climate change risks are real and likely to worsen. Just in recent years we’ve experienced smoke-filled skies, sharp utility rate increases, and threats to places we love like the marshes along the Carquinez Strait.
They also show up in conversations with neighbors, at city hall meetings, and in our own decisions about energy use, development blueprints and permitting policies, or emergency preparedness…
In fact, as the federal government undermines climate science, local action isn’t optional, it’s survival and, it’s opportunity — if we choose to seize it — to retake the mantle of climate action and agency ourselves, something many concerned scientists and other citizens and activists are already doing. This opportunity opens the door for all of us to get involved or get more involved, taking the bull by the horns as it were.
What’s Happening Now
Here are key action opportunities you can help us seize upon in the coming weeks and months.
1. Beyond Zero & Building Electrification in San Francisco
The film Beyond Zero tells the story of a carpet company that reinvented itself around sustainability, showing that change is possible even in unexpected industries. It makes us wonder: what would it look like if San Francisco’s business community made similar commitments to sustainability?
In particular, that community could seize the moment to accelerate the electrification of commercial buildings.
Since 2024 SF has made progress reducing processing time for both planning and building permits, and in July 2025, passed an ambitious All-Electric Major Renovations Ordinance.
And, research tells us that building infrastructure contributes significantly to the city’s carbon footprint.
Can the Bay Area demonstrate that clean energy buildings aren’t just good for the climate, but good for resilience and business too?
This campaign uses the film Beyond Zero to spark conversations with business and civic leaders, with a focus on ramping up building renovations to reduce carbon emissions.
2. Stopping the Montezuma Carbon Capture Pipeline
What does it mean to put a carbon pipeline through wetlands? That’s the proposal in Solano County, where Montezuma Carbon LLC is pushing to get approval to build a carbon sequestration facility in sensitive wetlands near Suisun Marsh in Solano County.
It raises tough questions about risk, justice, and whether carbon capture is really a “solution” at all. Should our communities be the testing ground for an experiment with so many uncertainties?
The good news is that the CACTI coalition is already spearheading efforts to raise awareness about these dangers and get local leaders and commissions to reject the proposed project. CRBA wants to support CACTI and educate and mobilize more community members before it’s too late.
3. Local Impact of Federal Cuts to Climate Science
Cuts to NOAA and federal climate research might feel distant, but what happens when fewer resources are available to track fires, floods, and extreme weather in California?
Bay Area scientists have warned that cuts to NOAA and to NOAA’s research budget will likely undermine local disaster preparedness, even as risks from climate events are intensifying.
We’ve already seen tragic consequences in places like Texas, where reduced monitoring meant less warning before deadly flooding.
What could these cuts mean for our region’s preparedness? How can we make sure reliable science continues to inform local action? How should we focus our advocacy to make sure our communities and leaders are using reliable models and preparing for potential hazards?
4. The Impact of AI Data Centers on Energy Demand
Artificial Intelligence is often talked about in terms of jobs, innovation, or ethics — but what about energy use? AI data centers are consuming electricity at staggering levels, sometimes more than entire cities. If this trend continues, what does that mean for our grid, for utility bills, and for communities already vulnerable to outages? Our campaign is about lifting up these questions and helping Bay Area residents understand both the risks and opportunities.
What You Can Do
Join our SF Bay Area Chapter — Become an informed climate activist and get connected with others, to amplify your voice and impact.
Join one of our Policy Action Teams — be part of the conversations and actions shaping local climate policy.Learn more about how to get involved with our work — and find how to use your unique gifts and skills for the planet.
Learn more and act with CACTI Coalition: cacticoalition.org
Subscribe to Our Newsletter — stay connected and don’t miss out on events, gatherings, or actions.
Closing
In the coming months, CRBA volunteers will be trying to educate SF Bay Area communities about the issues outlined above.
If you’re already a CRBA member, please consider if you want to get involved and watch for updates in CRBA’s monthly newsletter and on CRBA’s social channels. If you’re not a CRBA member yet, maybe it’s time to get on board and then reach out to any of our action teams.
What we do know is that the Bay Area is full of people who care, who act, and who imagine better futures.
And… the costs of inaction are far too high but acting alone can’t equal the impacts we can achieve acting together, in larger and larger coalitions.
Author Bio
Keith Nickolaus is a communications professional and former educator based in Berkeley. As leader of the CRBA Writers Team, he works to amplify community voices and is passionate about informing and inspiring climate action across the Bay Area.
Sources
San Francisco Department of the Environment. All-Electric Major Renovations Ordinance Unanimously Passes. (2025). sfenvironment.org
San Francisco Chronicle. New SF data reveals how long the city’s notorious permit delays really take. (2025). sfchronicle.com
Sunflower Alliance. The Montezuma Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project Coming Our Way. (2025). sunflower-alliance.org
Oil & Gas Watch. Montezuma NorCal Carbon Sequestration Hub. (2025). oilandgaswatch.org
CBS News. NOAA could face 25% budget cut, slashing climate research. (2025). cbsnews.com
NBC Bay Area. Local weather experts say NOAA cuts undermine science. (2025). nbcbayarea.com
California Community Choice Association (CalCCA). Powering AI: The Energy Demands of Data Centers. (2024). cal-cca.org
International Energy Agency (IEA). Energy and AI: Energy Demand from AI. (2023).iea.org