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October 17, 2025October 16, 2025 | Blog Post

Corporate utilities are making California’s electricity more expensive

Last week, Governor Newsom vetoed three common-sense bills to advance affordable, clean energy. That included AB 740 (Harabedian), a low-cost, non-controversial bill co-sponsored by The Climate Center that passed the state legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. AB 740 and two other bills that were vetoed (AB 44 and SB 541) aimed to expand the state’s … Read more

Ellie Cohen

October 6, 2025 | 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

Ryan Schleeter

October 3, 2025October 2, 2025 | 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

Ellie Cohen

Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience

September 18, 2025 | 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

Ellie Cohen

Community Energy Resilience Fossil Fuels Natural Carbon Sequestration

September 4, 2025 | Post

Act now before clean energy tax credits expire

I love being an early adopter of clean energy and clean cars so that when I’m advocating for new policies, I can share from personal experience what is working and what is not. I was fortunate to be able to lease my family’s first electric vehicle (EV) — a Nissan Leaf with an 80-mile range … Read more

Ellie Cohen

Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience

September 16, 2025August 25, 2025 | Take Action

Tell California leaders to listen to voters and invest in nature-based climate solutions

Update as of 9/16/25: The California legislature allocated the climate bond funds! Close to 1,000 members of The Climate Center community took action to ensure that Prop 4 funds would be allocated. Thank you for your advocacy. In the 2024 election, California voters approved a historic $10 billion climate bond, Prop 4, by a 60-40 … Read more

The Climate Center Carbon Drawdown Climate Justice Climate Targets

August 21, 2025 | 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

Ellie Cohen

Community Energy Resilience Fossil Fuels

August 21, 2025 | 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

Allison Hilliard

Fossil Fuels Just Transition Transportation

August 7, 2025 | Blog Post

Three things you should know about geothermal energy

The Geysers geothermal field in the Mayacamas Mountains (pictured here) produces the most geothermal energy of any region in the world. Photo by David A. Hofmann / Flickr.

You may not have heard much about geothermal energy before, but chances are you’re going to be hearing a lot about it over the next few years. Geothermal power plants convert heat from the Earth into electricity, generating about one-tenth of the carbon emissions of a fossil gas plant. Geothermal energy is clean, reliable around … Read more

Ellie Cohen

Clean Energy Just Transition

August 6, 2025 | Blog Post

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

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

Pooja Agarwal

Community Energy Resilience