The Climate Center

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Urge Governor Newsom to use electric vehicles for cheap, reliable electricity

Californians are facing the twin crises of soaring utility bills and unreliable electricity. Wildfires, heatwaves, and other climate-fueled extreme weather events pose an increasing threat to the reliability and resilience of our electrical grid.  Electricity rates continue to climb as corporate utilities spend on expensive grid infrastructure upgrades. In addition, utilities are using climate-polluting “peaker” … Read more

Categories Community Energy Resilience Transportation
| Report

Reducing Consumer Costs in California

Performance-Based Regulation for Investor-Owned Utilities

California faces an electricity affordability crisis, with rates soaring far beyond national averages and contributing to financial distress for many households. In order to build a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable energy system, California policymakers should look to performance-based regulation. What is performance-based regulation? Performance-based regulation (PBR) describes a set of policy tools that … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience Energy Efficiency
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Tell California leaders: No more giveaways for Big Oil through Cap and Trade

Oil pumpjack on fire. Photo by Canva.

State lawmakers will begin the long process of reauthorizing and possibly reforming California’s Cap and Trade program this year. Cap and Trade is California’s market-based system intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It works by setting a limit on the total amount of emissions allowed within the state, then allowing companies to buy and sell … Read more

Categories Fossil Fuels
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Pass the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act to make polluters pay for climate destruction

The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, introduced as SB 684 (Menjivar) in the Senate and AB 1243 (Addis) in the Assembly, would ensure that polluters pay their fair share for the climate damage they have caused in California. The firestorm in Los Angeles is only the latest in a string of unprecedented climate disasters that … Read more

Categories Fossil Fuels
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Tell Governor Newsom and state leaders: Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and prioritize climate investments

Gavin Newsom by Charlie Kaijo

California’s 2025-2026 state budget faces a $12 billion deficit but protects huge tax breaks for oil and gas corporations. After unprecedented wildfires ravaged Los Angeles only days into 2025, California must strengthen critical climate programs, not cut them. Every dollar we invest in fighting the climate crisis today will save lives! We’ve seen what happens … Read more

Categories Fossil Fuels
| Report

Water’s Edge Tax Haven and California’s Budget Shortfall

How Oil and Gas Majors Crafted a Tax Avoidance Policy Contributing to Ongoing Budget Woes

Oil tankers at the Port of Long Beach.

This report details how global oil majors like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell orchestrated the creation of California’s Water’s Edge tax loophole — a policy that now costs California taxpayers billions annually. It offers a first-of-its-kind, historical look at how oil giants lobbied for and have benefited from the Water’s Edge tax election, shielding their profits … Read more

Categories Climate Justice Fossil Fuels
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Tell California’s leaders to stand up for climate action

Climate Rally in Sacramento

What we do in California to address the climate crisis has a ripple effect across the world. With a climate-denying, pro-oil president waging war on federal climate action, California’s climate leadership is more important than ever. The administration is attacking federal climate progress at every level. On his first day in office, the new president … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Natural Carbon Sequestration
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The climate imperative: As goes California, so goes the world

Activists and lawmakers gather for the Make Polluters Pay rally in fall of 2024. Photo by Ryan Schleeter.

California has a reputation for precedent-setting climate policy, and the last year has shown us why. Thanks to the support of our generous donors, The Climate Center has been at the center of passing nation-leading, new laws. This year, together with policymakers, scientists, business leaders, local governments, activists, and others across the climate movement, we: … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Climate Targets Community Energy Resilience Fossil Fuels Natural Carbon Sequestration
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Urge state officials to transition to equitable, affordable, and clean transportation fuels

In 2023, Governor Newsom signed SBX1-2, which aims to prevent fuel price-gouging. The law includes a provision for the California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board (CARB) to conduct a Transportation Fuels Assessment and develop a Transportation Fuels Transition Plan that will determine how the state transitions to clean fuels. CARB will be starting … Read more

Categories Just Transition Transportation
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Update: The climate bond is on the ballot!

A community enjoys clean air and thriving nature. Photo via Canva.

Facing a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, California walked back critical investments in a climate-safe future. The best pathway we have to protecting climate resilience programs across the state is to introduce a robust, equitable climate bond on November’s ballot. We must act at the speed and scale the climate crisis demands, which means that we cannot … Read more

Categories Natural Carbon Sequestration