My introduction to climate work started with a pretty eye-opening discovery in my middle school cafeteria. As part of our sixth-grade service learning project, my classmates and I had to identify a problem impacting our public school and come up with a solution. My team and I figured we’d tackle something environmental — we had … Read more
On July 15, 2025, the California Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee voted to advance AB 740 (Harabedian), a bill to scale up the use of virtual power plants (VPPs) in California. VPPs are networks of clean, distributed energy resources like smart thermostats, home batteries, smart plugs, electric water heaters, and electric vehicles. When aggregated, … Read more
On June 12, President Trump signed congressional resolutions to repeal California’s vehicle emissions clean air standards and revoked California’s 2035 electric vehicle sales mandate. Then on June 20, the Supreme Court ruled that oil companies can sue states over vehicle emissions standards in the future. And now, Republicans are pushing a budget bill that would … Read more
Californians are facing soaring electricity bills and some of the most polluted air in the country. A massive rollout of bidirectional electric school buses across the state can help tackle both problems. Bidirectional electric vehicles, including school buses, can store energy in their batteries and feed it back to the grid when it’s needed most. … Read more
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
California should ensure that rooftop solar is affordable for working-class Californians because it saves all of us money and makes the grid more resilient and clean. Instead, with the help of corporate utilities, state leaders are attempting to walk back promises to early adopters and make solar much less affordable for everyone. On June 3, … Read more
Right now, nine out of ten school buses across the country run on fossil fuels. California, however, leads the nation in electric school bus adoption, with more than 3,100 electric buses in the state. Every electric school bus provides an opportunity to cut air and climate pollution and save money in California communities. Electric school … Read more
Thanks to the more than 400 of you who were able to join us last week for the 2025 California Climate Policy Summit in Sacramento. It was an inspiring day of learning, action, and community, despite the challenges we face from rapidly worsening climate impacts and a science-denying, pro-oil federal administration. California State Senate President … Read more
On April 22, 2025, The Climate Center convened 400 climate activists, environmental justice advocates, state decision-makers, elected officials, business leaders, scientists, and policy experts for the fourth annual California Climate Policy Summit. Thank you to everyone who joined us! Together, we’ll continue building support for accelerated, equitable climate policy. Read here the opening remarks from The … Read more
Electricity rates have reached unacceptable levels for Californians in recent months. PG&E’s rates increased once again on March 1 and California state senators recently reprimanded the California Public Utility Commission for the approval of six PG&E rate hikes in the past year. In addition, Californians are paying for surging energy demand from the growth of … Read more
