As 2025 comes to a close, I want to acknowledge that it’s been a tough year for climate action with near-constant attacks on our progress from a science-denying, pro-oil federal administration. I don’t want to underestimate our challenges, but I do want to celebrate our victories!
This year, The Climate Center collaborated with partners to secure policies in the state legislature that will help California cut climate pollution while scaling up clean energy and nature-based solutions. Below are three of our most significant policy wins in 2025:
- Expanded composting to draw down past climate pollution and cut methane emissions from landfills. SB 279 (McNerney), co-sponsored by The Climate Center, will increase composting on farms and in communities across California. Our new report about Carbon Dioxide Removal outlines both nature-based and technological approaches to drawing down carbon.
- Reformed California’s signature climate program, Cap and Invest, despite massive opposition from Big Oil. As co-chair of the California Natural and Working Lands Coalition, we worked with more than two dozen partners to secure nature-based solutions as the only new priority for future funding.
- Advanced geothermal energy for clean, round-the-clock power. We helped pass AB 531 (Rogers), which will enable faster permitting for geothermal energy projects. This can help meet California’s growing electricity demand, fueled by the data centers powering AI. Geothermal is the only clean energy source still supported by the federal administration, and oil and gas worker skills are easily transferable to geothermal operations. About a dozen startups are trying to scale up the technology, with the bulk of them in California.
What we accomplish together in California matters! Analysts estimate that 75 percent of the climate pollution reduction commitments that the United States made via the Paris Climate Agreement ten years ago can be reached entirely without federal support.
Please also join me in asking Governor Newsom to build on these victories by accelerating the adoption of affordable, clean energy, a fossil fuel phase-out, and nature-based climate solutions.
This blog first appeared in The Climate Center’s bi-weekly newsletter. To keep up with the latest climate news and ways to take action for a climate-safe future, subscribe today!
