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
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
Californians are facing the twin crises of soaring utility bills and unreliable electricity. Wildfires, heatwaves, and other climate-fueled extreme weather events pose an increasing threat to the reliability and resilience of our electrical grid. Electricity rates continue to climb as corporate utilities spend on expensive grid infrastructure upgrades. In addition, utilities are using climate-polluting “peaker” … Read more
Update as of 9/16/25: State lawmakers have reauthorized Cap and Trade, now referred to as Cap and Invest, through 2045 by passing legislation in the Assembly and Senate, AB 1207 and SB 840. The Climate Center played a lead role in advocating for improvements to the state’s flagship emissions reduction program in the reauthorization process. This … Read more
The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, introduced as SB 684 (Menjivar) in the Senate and AB 1243 (Addis) in the Assembly, would ensure that polluters pay their fair share for the climate damage they have caused in California. The firestorm in Los Angeles is only the latest in a string of unprecedented climate disasters that … Read more
California’s 2025-2026 state budget faces a $12 billion deficit but protects huge tax breaks for oil and gas corporations. After unprecedented wildfires ravaged Los Angeles only days into 2025, California must strengthen critical climate programs, not cut them. Every dollar we invest in fighting the climate crisis today will save lives! We’ve seen what happens … Read more
What we do in California to address the climate crisis has a ripple effect across the world. With a climate-denying, pro-oil president waging war on federal climate action, California’s climate leadership is more important than ever. The administration is attacking federal climate progress at every level. On his first day in office, the new president … Read more
In 2023, Governor Newsom signed SBX1-2, which aims to prevent fuel price-gouging. The law includes a provision for the California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board (CARB) to conduct a Transportation Fuels Assessment and develop a Transportation Fuels Transition Plan that will determine how the state transitions to clean fuels. CARB will be starting … Read more
Facing a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, California walked back critical investments in a climate-safe future. The best pathway we have to protecting climate resilience programs across the state is to introduce a robust, equitable climate bond on November’s ballot. We must act at the speed and scale the climate crisis demands, which means that we cannot … Read more
Updated May 13, 2024. In 2023, Governor Newsom signed landmark climate laws to set stricter standards for corporate polluters. SB 253 and SB 261 are two first-in-the-nation laws that require major corporations doing business in California to report the full scope of their climate pollution and their climate-related financial risk. Huge corporations mounted fierce opposition … Read more
