Keep tabs on climate and energy legislation in California and urge your representatives to take action for a climate-safe future.
AB 740 (Harabedian) will accelerate the use of virtual power plants (VPPs), which are networks of clean, distributed energy resources like smart thermostats, home batteries, smart plugs, electric water heaters, and electric vehicles. When aggregated, these resources can deliver energy during peak demand hours, creating savings for the VPP participants and for all electricity customers … Read more
SB 840, by lead authors Senators Monique Limón and Mike McGuire, addresses the state’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This bill reauthorizes Cap and Trade, the market-based compliance mechanism that reduces emissions while generating funds to invest in climate solutions, through 2045. Cap and Trade originally set declining annual aggregate emissions limits for greenhouse … Read more
AB 1207 strengthens and extends the Cap and Trade program, a market-based system that focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and generating funds to invest in climate solutions, by improving affordability and stabilizing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The Cap and Trade program was created to help meet California’s goal of reducing emissions by 40 … Read more
Update 7/24/25: Thanks to your advocacy, the Senate Utility, Energy, and Communications Committee removed provisions in this legislation that punished homeowners, renters, nonprofits, and small businesses for living in, selling, or purchasing a property with solar panels. The Climate Center has now adopted a neutral stance on this bill. AB 942 would cement a proposal … Read more
AB 526 will task the California Energy Commission (CEC) with producing a strategic plan for the development of new in-state advanced geothermal energy systems in California. Geothermal energy holds immense potential as a clean, reliable, affordable, and virtually inexhaustible source of 24/7, round-the-clock power. Advanced geothermal systems, which utilize new technologies to maximize heat extraction … Read more
AB 491 will make California the first state in the nation to codify climate targets that harness the power of California’s natural and working lands to achieve carbon neutrality. In 2022, the legislature passed AB 1757 (C. Garcia & R. Rivas), which directed state agencies to determine targets for nature-based climate solutions that reduce greenhouse … Read more
AB 399 will protect and restore blue carbon ecosystems, such as coastal wetlands, in the coastal permitting process. It will authorize the California Coastal Commission to require a contribution to a blue carbon demonstration project with any coastal development permit that will impact coastal wetlands, subtidal, intertidal, or marine habitats. Blue carbon refers to the … Read more
We are at a pivotal time when California must address not only the climate crisis but also the electricity affordability crisis, which threatens the success of California’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts. Over the past decade, utility rates have risen 127 percent for the average Californian. Meanwhile, PG&E, SoCal Edison, and SDG&E are recording record … Read more
Geothermal energy holds immense potential as a clean, reliable, affordable, and virtually inexhaustible source of 24/7, round-the-clock power. Geothermal power plants work by converting heat from the Earth into electricity, generating about one-tenth of the carbon emissions of a fossil gas plant. Once constructed, some NextGen geothermal systems may even be zero-emission. Geothermal is also … Read more