As wildfires rage across Southern California and tens of thousands of people are evacuated (including our own staff members), oil and gas companies continue to wreck the climate while enjoying huge profits. This is the backdrop of a new report by The Climate Center, which reveals that a California tax policy called the “Water’s Edge … Read more
Accelerating climate action will help California address the rising costs of food, electricity, and insurance. Collaborating with partners across the state, The Climate Center is working to pass laws in 2025 that hold Big Oil and corporate utilities accountable, support clean, local energy, and responsibly draw down past carbon pollution. Right now, oil and gas … Read more
Join us at the fourth annual California Climate Policy Summit on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 in Sacramento. Collaborate with state decision-makers, elected officials, climate activists, environmental justice advocates, business leaders, scientists, and policy experts to build power across California in support of science-based climate policies. Learn what visionary climate leaders are doing to accelerate the … Read more
This week, California lawmakers met for a special legislative session to address affordability in California while also budgeting funds to defend against Trump’s likely attacks on climate action. So far, the special session has been mostly symbolic, with policy details to be tackled in January when the legislature reconvenes. State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and … Read more
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
Press Conference hosted by the Center for Biological Diversity Remarks from Barry Vesser, Chief Operating Officer for The Climate Center: “Good afternoon everyone. My name is Barry Vesser. The election of a climate denier to the White House is a setback for some of our climate protection ambitions, and we need to be honest about … Read more
We’re at COP29, the UN climate summit On Monday, representatives from nearly 200 nations and more than 3,000 NGOs — including our own Chief Operating Officer Barry Vesser — arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan for COP29, the annual United Nations climate change conference. The COP, or Conference of the Parties, brings together the nations of the … Read more
New satellite data shows the United States is releasing more methane despite pledges to cut back. Cutting methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow the climate crisis as this planet-heating gas is roughly 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Across California, methane is released intentionally via flaring and venting at oil … Read more
I am very excited to be joining The Climate Center as the Southern California Development Director. Before The Climate Center, I worked as Director of Development, Fundraising, and Strategic Partnerships at Environment America and the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). A couple of years ago, I transitioned full-time into development work, but my interest in … Read more
Recent extremes on every continent have been made more devastating by the burning of fossil fuels. How do we know? A new branch of science called rapid attribution studies connects the dots. Scientists estimate climate change made the high sea temperatures that fueled Hurricane Helene 200 to 500 times more likely and caused Helene to … Read more
