Climate Issues in the 2026 Governor’s Race: Transportation

First in a series of posts outlining key challenges and opportunities facing California’s next governor.

In collaboration with California Environmental Voters, CLEE is leading a nonpartisan initiative to educate all candidates running for governor, as well as the public, on critical climate, energy, and environmental issues. In February, CLEE and CEV co-hosted a candidate forum featuring 90 minutes of discussion on these issues. And we’ve launched a public website, www.climatevote.org, that hosts a series of climate issue briefs CLEE has prepared in partnership with subject-matter experts.

These issue briefs cover Building Decarbonization, Electricity Affordability, the Energy Transition, Housing and Climate, Resilience and Adaptation, Transportation, Water, and Wildfire. Each issue brief provides an overview of the topic in the context of California’s climate targets and our state’s pressing environmental and economic needs. 

In a series of blog posts in the coming weeks, we will provide an introduction to these issues and how California’s next governor will confront them. This first post covers transportation.

Transportation is California’s single largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while cars and heavy-duty trucks also generate significant asthma and other illness-inducing local air pollution. While California’s leadership in regulating vehicular emissions has slowed emissions growth and improved air quality, GHG emissions from the sector have remained stubborn, and large parts of the state still suffer from some of the worst air quality in the country. 

At the same time, the Trump Administration and Congress are attempting to dismantle California’s clean vehicle strategy, auto manufacturers are pulling back from their electric vehicle (EV) programs, and public transit systems across the state are on the verge of deep funding cuts. After decades of leadership in Sacramento, California’s next governor will face a complex set of transportation policy challenges including:

• Preserving state authority: The Trump Administration and Congress have taken steps to block California’s clean vehicle regulatory authority while also eliminating a slate of federal standards and incentives for car and truck electrification. The next governor can take bold action to ensure California remains a leader in protecting lungs and the climate from automobile fossil fuel pollution.
• Protecting and expanding public transit: Many Californians rely on public transportation to access their jobs and communities and many more suffer from heavy reliance on private automobile trips and lack of connectivity to resources. But transit systems throughout the state are short of funding. The next governor will need to identify creative solutions to maintain vital service and expand access statewide.
• Integrating transportation and land-use: Rapidly increasing California’s housing supply, while ensuring new development concentrates homes near jobs and community resources, is crucial to addressing the state’s cost of living and climate challenges. The next governor will inherit a number of recent reforms and policy tools designed to promote greater density, along with a major housing shortfall and local and financial barriers to transit-oriented development.

Addressing these and other issues–from expanding EV charging infrastructure and refining the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to promoting active transportation, regulating ride-hailing services and autonomous vehicles, and facilitating battery recycling–to ensure climate progress and mobility for all.

You can read more about transportation issues facing California’s next governor and access all of CLEE’s climate issue briefs at California Climate Vote.

2026 Governors Race, California, Climate Policy, environmental leadership