Community Energy Resilience

| Press Release

Governor Newsom vetoes bill to expand virtual power plants – The Climate Center response

SACRAMENTO, October 6, 2025 — Late on Friday, October 3, 2025, Governor Newsom vetoed AB 740 (Harabedian), co-sponsored by The Climate Center, Advanced Energy United, and Environment California.  The bill would have accelerated the use of virtual power plants (VPPs), which are networks of clean, distributed energy resources like smart thermostats, home batteries, rooftop solar, … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience Energy Efficiency

Inside Sacramento: 2025 Climate Policy Recap

Zoom

The 2025 California legislative session ended on September 13. During this webinar, we will hear from legislators, environmental justice leaders, and clean energy experts about several hot topics that emerged during this session — from the future of refineries and the state’s Cap and Invest program (formerly Cap and Trade), to scaling up nature-based solutions … Read more

| Post

States are taking the lead on climate

Last week, the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors representing 24 states and 60 percent of the U.S. economy, gathered in New York City for Climate Week. As Trump lied to the United Nations about clean energy, the Alliance delivered a showcase of state-level climate actions, including a new analysis highlighting how states … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience

Enhancing Collaboration to Achieve Clean, Distributed Energy Policy Goals

2000 Franklin St. Oakland, CA 94612

Accelerated deployment of clean, distributed energy resources like rooftop solar, batteries, and electric vehicles in California would help solve multiple challenges, including energy affordability, resilience, and equity. The purpose of this meeting is to collaboratively envision how aligned stakeholders — including environmental organizations, environmental justice advocates, and related industry allies — can collaborate more effectively … Read more

| Blog Post

California’s 2025 legislative session closes with some climate progress

The California Legislature ended its 2025 session on Saturday. All in all, despite some setbacks, we made more progress than I thought possible.  I am very proud of the collaborative leadership role The Climate Center played, especially in light of the federal administration’s efforts to dismantle climate and clean energy policies and slash funding. The … Read more

Categories Community Energy Resilience Fossil Fuels Natural Carbon Sequestration

Collaborating Across Sectors to Accelerate Electric School Bus Adoption for Reliable Energy

Zoom

Transitioning to electric school buses presents a unique opportunity to bring together diverse stakeholders for a common mission: securing clean air, health for our kids, living wage jobs, and a reliable and affordable electricity system.  In this webinar, we heard from leaders working across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors for mass adoption of bidirectional … Read more

| Post

Climate wins to celebrate

States are where the climate action is these days, and California has been a leader among leaders! Recent federal attacks on climate progress coupled with unprecedented climate impacts make me more committed than ever to ensure we continue to lead here in the Golden State to rapidly cut climate pollution and make our communities more … Read more

Categories Community Energy Resilience Fossil Fuels

California Bidirectional Electric School Bus Policy Coalition Meeting

David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Suite 100, Berkeley, California 94704, Tamalpais Room 

California has led the nation in electric school bus adoption, now home to nearly one-quarter of all electric school buses nationwide. However, without a unified strategy, California could miss opportunities to leverage these buses as grid resources to enhance the affordability, resilience, and reliability of the state’s electrical grid. This meeting will open with presentations … Read more

| Blog Post

Pooja Agarwal joins The Climate Center as the Community Energy Resilience Policy Manager

Pooja Agarwal

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

Categories Community Energy Resilience