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Californians recently got slapped with yet another electricity rate hike. PG&E is blaming the hike on the cost of burying 1,200 miles of power lines to prevent wildfires. California has some of the highest energy costs in the country and electricity rates here have nearly doubled over the past decade, with almost one-third of California … Read more
SACRAMENTO — Faced with a $38 billion budget deficit, Governor Newsom today announced additional proposed cuts to California’s climate and energy investments. If approved by the legislature, these cuts would bring California’s multi-year climate budget down to $48.3 billion from the $54 billion approved in 2022, an 11 percent reduction. Some of these cuts may … Read more
Last November, The Climate Center’s Barry Vesser, Baani Behniwal, and Marc Victoria traveled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates for COP28 — the UN’s annual climate conference — to help coordinate the California delegation. With a record attendance of 84,000 people from 193 countries, this COP was massive. You may be wondering why The Climate Center, … Read more
The Community Energy Resilience team at The Climate Center is supporting community-based organizations (CBOs) applying for funds to strengthen their community’s resilience to blackouts and extreme weather. In 2023, both California and the federal government released many funding opportunities to help advance community resilience, including those outlined in my September 2023 blog. In 2024, we … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO — COP28, the annual United Nations climate conference, has come to a close. While UN officials call the agreement reached the “beginning of the end” of fossil fuels, it still falls well short of what science says is necessary to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as defined by the Paris Agreement. In … Read more
Batteries that store clean energy to power both buildings and vehicles are rapidly changing the energy landscape. In the first half of 2023, 68 gas-fired power plant projects were put on hold or canceled because they are simply no longer needed — giant batteries that store solar and wind energy are now cheaper to build … Read more
SACRAMENTO — Lobbying disclosures from Quarter 3, representing lobbying between July 1 and September 30, 2023, show that oil companies and trade associations spent more than $7.2 million on influence-related activities in an all-out effort to kill California climate bills. This brings the total year-to-date spending by Big Oil to more than $20.6 million, already … Read more
Climate solutions on farms, ranches, wetlands, forests, and more have the potential to draw down existing climate pollution and store it in soils and biomass while promoting food and water security and biodiversity. Out of California’s 105 million acres of land, approximately 90 percent has the potential to store planet-warming carbon. Thanks to AB 1757 … Read more
Gas prices have been surging over the past two months across California, with average prices of about $1.20 more per gallon than the rest of the country. About $0.35 of that cannot be explained by taxes or other fees — but it could be explained by market manipulation. Just five corporations control over 90 percent … Read more
SACRAMENTO, October 13, 2023 — Earlier today, Governor Newsom announced that California will receive up to $1.2 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) program. ARCHES is a statewide, public-private partnership with the stated goal of accelerating renewable hydrogen projects and supporting California’s transition to … Read more
