Just Transition

| Press Release

New report reveals California funneled $28 billion to corporate polluters via carbon trading programs

Webinar on February 19 will unpack findings and explore policy solutions

SACRAMENTO — California’s carbon trading programs funneled $27.8 billion to oil companies and biofuel suppliers from 2013 to 2024, according to a new report from The Climate Center released today. The report, Clearing the Zero-Emission Path: A Review of Financial Transfers to Polluting Fuels via California Carbon Trading Programs, finds the combined value of free … Read more

Categories Fossil Fuels Just Transition Transportation
| Report

Clearing the Zero-Emission Path

A review of financial transfers to polluting fuels via California carbon trading programs

This report reveals how California’s carbon trading programs funneled $27.8 billion to oil companies and biofuel suppliers from 2013 to 2024.  Both the Cap and Trade program and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard have the stated purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping California meet its statutory climate goals. In reality, our analysis shows … Read more

Categories Fossil Fuels Just Transition Transportation

Twelve Years of Giveaways to Polluting Industries via California Carbon Trading Programs

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Between 2013 and 2024, California distributed nearly $28 billion to the oil industry and biofuel companies from two state climate programs: the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the Cap and Invest program. That is the research finding that was presented in this webinar by the authors of a new report by The Climate Center: Clearing … Read more

| Blog Post

Testimony: Transitioning to a clean transportation future in California

On August 20, 2025, the Assembly Utilities and Energy, Natural Resources, and Transportation Committees held a joint hearing on how to further an equitable transition from fossil fuels to clean transportation fuels. The following testimony was given to the committees by Allison Hilliard, Legislative Manager for The Climate Center: We need bold, equitable action to … Read more

Categories Fossil Fuels Just Transition Transportation

Advanced Geothermal in California: Clean, Reliable Energy for All

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Geothermal power plants use heat from the Earth to generate electricity. Conventional geothermal has been around for about 120 years and produces about one-tenth of the carbon dioxide emissions that a gas power plant produces. Geothermal plants can operate around the clock and this resource will last for billions of years. However, until recently, geothermal … Read more

| Take Action

Tell Governor Newsom to protect workers and communities as refineries close

As California continues to clean up air and climate pollution, oil refineries will inevitably close. With wind and solar already more economically competitive than fossil fuels, the transition to a clean energy economy is already underway; it’s just a question of how we get there. Will it be a smooth or bumpy road? The abrupt, … Read more

Categories Fossil Fuels Just Transition
| Blog Post

The ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda arrives in California

Activists with Greenpeace, Oil & Gas Action Network and Regenerating Paradise gather at a burn scar site in the North Complex Fire urging Governor Newsom to take immediate action to phase out fossil fuels and end neighborhood drilling.

Just one year ago, fossil fuel corporations were forced to withdraw a California ballot measure that would have canceled public health protections for communities near oil and gas drilling operations. Today, those same corporations are fighting back with a vengeance, laying the groundwork to expand drilling on land and at sea in California.   Since losing … Read more

Categories Climate Justice Fossil Fuels Just Transition
| Blog Post

California needs an energy transition that benefits communities, workers, and the climate

Phillips 66 Los Angeles Refinery in Wilmington. Photo by Emmett Institute / Flickr.

Early this past Saturday morning, I woke up with my heart racing, wondering why so many people had to die in the horrific, climate-fueled flooding in Texas last Friday. And why so many more will suffer from the cruel, big, ugly bill signed into law by the president over the weekend — a bill that … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Just Transition

Planning for Refinery Closures That Benefit Workers, Communities, and the Environment

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California is a major petroleum refining state. However, two refineries — Phillips 66 in Wilmington and Valero in Benicia — have announced plans to close at the end of 2025 and early 2026, respectively. Together, these refineries produce about 17 percent of the state’s gasoline supply. If both refineries close as planned, the state could … Read more