CBI in Action: Summer 2026

Updating Chile’s Long-Term Climate Strategy

The government of Chile is updating its Long-Term Climate Strategy (Estrategia Climática de Largo Plazo, ECLP), the country’s roadmap toward carbon neutrality and climate resilience by 2050. Recognizing the importance of inclusive and territorially grounded climate governance, the Ministry of the Environment launched a national participatory process to gather input from communities, civil society, academia, and sectoral stakeholders across Chile’s diverse territories.

In partnership with the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) Chile and the Ministry of the Environment selected CBI to design, organize, and facilitate this process. The collaboration included developing and implementing 10 workshops across the country—spanning citizen, regional, and sectoral dialogues—and synthesizing participant input to support the ECLP update.

A Water Forum Agreement in Sacramento 

On May 11 in Sacramento, CA, leaders from government, business, environmental organizations, and public agencies gathered to celebrate the signing of the Water Forum 2050 Agreement, a landmark update to the collaborative water management framework that has defined the Sacramento region's approach to water stewardship for more than two decades. The updated agreement responds directly to the accelerating pressures of climate change. At its core is the American River Climate Adaptation Program (ARCAP), a regional strategy designed to weave together conservation, groundwater recharge, reservoir operations, and infrastructure investment into a coordinated system. The signing marks the culmination of a five-year negotiation process and represents a renewed regional commitment to balancing two coequal goals: providing a reliable water supply for the region's communities and economy, while protecting the fishery, wildlife, recreational, and aesthetic values of the Lower American River. It builds on the foundation established by the original Water Forum Agreement, signed in 2000, which helped the Sacramento region avoid the costly conflicts and litigation that have plagued water management elsewhere in California.

CBI designed and facilitated the five-year negotiation process that led to this historic agreement. Working across a complex landscape of stakeholders, including water suppliers, environmental advocates, business leaders, and public agencies, this process developed the trust and shared vision necessary to reach consensus. As California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said in his keynote remarks at the signing ceremony, “California faces growing water challenges driven by climate change, and the Sacramento region continues to demonstrate the value of collaboration and long-term planning with a multi-benefit approach.”

Addressing PFAS Contamination in Pennsylvania

Back in the 1990s in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to revegetate an area damaged by a historic zinc-smelting operation involved the use of Ecoloam, a soil conditioner containing sewage sludge. That application likely contributed to contamination of groundwater with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). After EPA testing revealed the PFAS contamination in 2025, the agency developed a remediation plan, with the Palmerton community as a partner in the process. 

CBI undertook a thorough communications assessment to give EPA a clear picture of what the community knows, cares about, and fears regarding PFAS contamination. Stakeholder interviews, on-the-ground engagement, and firsthand site visits laid the groundwork for a public meeting where community members dove into wide-ranging conversations about different facets of the cleanup process. The community’s concerns—and the need for continual communication with the community—have been taken into account by EPA as they move forward with their ongoing remediation efforts.

Preparing to Respond to Extreme Heat in Cambridge, Massachusetts

The changing climate has brought increasing instances of extreme heat to New England, and extreme temperatures have led to a sharp rise in emergency room visits and heat-related illness. With these dangers in mind, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has just developed its updated city-wide protocol responding to extreme heat events. This included establishing a threshold for declaring a heat emergency, a set of actions to take, safety guidelines, and communications plans.

CBI has been helping the city’s Office of Sustainability facilitate the inter-departmental work to develop this protocol, supporting a Working Group that reviewed existing protocols and engaged with representatives from many city departments (Health, Department of Public Works, Libraries, Housing, and more). CBI has also been assisting the Office of Sustainability—with funding from the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program—in its effort to learn more about how extreme heat affects community members and how the city can help. In May and June the team expects to hold 11 in-person events in addition to conducting a citywide survey. The events will focus on reaching community members most at-risk during extreme heat, including the unhoused population, people with disabilities, and the elderly. We look forward to analyzing the results and helping the city think about heat in future efforts to increase community resilience. 

Colorado’s State Trust Lands Conservation and Recreation Working Group

Established at statehood to generate funds for public schools, Colorado’s State Land Board is the second-largest landowner in the state, after the federal government. Across Colorado, state trust lands support schools and public institutions while also providing opportunities for agriculture, conservation, climate resilience, biodiversity, and recreation. As demands on these lands have grown, questions have emerged about how to expand conservation, recreation, and other public benefits over time while meeting the Land Board’s dual mandates of long-term stewardship and generating revenue for public beneficiaries. 

In response, in 2025 the Colorado General Assembly created a multi-stakeholder Working Group through HB25-1332 to evaluate current practices, explore new opportunities, and make recommendations related to the future management and stewardship of state trust lands. The Working Group is composed of 24 voting members, representing agricultural producers, conservation and recreation interests, local government representatives, Tribes, energy interests, educational representatives, and other stakeholders from across Colorado. The Working group’s aim is to reach consensus on a set of recommendations and issue a final report that will be sent to the Governor and State General Assembly in September 2026. 

To get there, CBI is facilitating the nearly year-long collaborative process through a series of in-person and virtual meetings, regional outreach, information-sharing, and structured deliberation to identify shared priorities and principles across areas of land management that are frequently defined by competing interests. The Working Group is examining difficult questions at the intersection of trust management and public values, such as: How can conservation and revenue generation be better aligned on state trust lands? What approaches could support recreation, agricultural viability, and other uses while minimizing conflict? How can stewardship, public benefit, and trust responsibilities be balanced in decisions about the future of these lands?