California
Community Benefits Tools and Policy Drivers:
Select mechanisms can help ensure that energy projects deliver meaningful benefits for California communities
This is the third in a series of posts detailing CLEE’s new set of resources on Equitable Climate Infrastructure Investment. Communities and local and state governments are increasingly turning to community benefits tools to support an equitable climate transition, catalyze substantive long-term investments in community priorities, and achieve effective, durable projects. CLEE’s new report, Community Benefits Tools and California …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump-Proofing Time at the California Legislature?
Governor Newsom has called a special session for December 2nd. How can California lawmakers ensure California’s climate and environmental progress in the years ahead?
During the last Trump administration, California emerged as a serious counterweight to federal government backsliding on climate and the environment, and last week, some California lawmakers publicly recommitted to resisting future Trump administration efforts to reduce environmental and climate protections. On November 7, Governor Newsom issued a proclamation calling the Legislature into a special session …
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CONTINUE READINGPresident-Elect Trump vs. California: What Lies Ahead?
Will It Be Environmental Law & Policy Deja Vu All Over Again? Or Even Worse?
Californians who care about the environment likely–and justifiably–feel whipsawed this week. Former President Trump (#45) has re-emerged as President-elect Trump (#47), interrupted by the intervening four years of the Biden-Harris presidential administration. (Actually, this presidential whipsaw has been going on for decades: think Bush Sr.-Clinton-Bush Jr.-Obama-Trump-Biden-Trump redux.) In general, California’s progressive environmental laws and policies …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Dangerous Hypocrisy of Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to slash government and regulations for a Trump administration—even though California regulations helped build his companies.
Our chances of helping avoid the most catastrophic climate disruptions just dimmed dramatically. Donald Trump’s victory and self-declared mandate means a lot of things—among them, that crucial climate and environmental policies are threatened like never before. There will be plenty to say in coming days about what this means for America’s role in the world …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Must Not Abandon its Climate Leadership
California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has been successful. CARB should update the program without undermining its fundamental features.
On November 8, the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, is slated to consider approving amendments to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The program has been so successful in replacing high carbon petroleum-based fuels with lower emissions vehicle fuels that interest groups from all sides of the political spectrum have come forward to demand radical …
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CONTINUE READINGIs California’s Climate Resilience Funding Ready for the Future?
New CLEE Report Identifies Key Challenges and Opportunities in the State’s Adaptation Funding Landscape
As climate change accelerates, California faces increasingly severe threats to its communities, economy, and environment. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, sea-level rise, and worsening wildfires are among the risks stretching State and local resources and driving demand for adaptation funding. California has utilized its longstanding leadership in climate policy to confront these challenges, including developing the …
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CONTINUE READINGNo More ‘House of Horrors’ Thanks to These New Laws
Several California laws prohibiting dangerous chemicals from household products go into effect on or after January 1, 2025.
Halloween is the one time when we welcome ghouls, ghosts, and goblins coming to our homes (and, if your neighborhood is anything like mine, a variety of tiny superheroes). This season, however, the Legislature is dealing with a different kind of house of horrors: dangerous chemicals in everyday products that affect millions of Californians’ health. …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Policy After the 2024 Election
In this UCLA Emmett Institute webinar, panelists discussed the climate implications of the 2024 election from the state, national, and international perspective.
Climate certainty. Legislative action. Whipsaw regulations. An exodus of civil servants. Chinese leadership despite being the world’s largest emitter. Those are a few of the possible outcomes of the Nov. 5 presidential election, according to our panelists. More than in any previous election, the two major candidates’ track records on environmental policies are well-established and …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Law Reaffirms Local Authority to Ban Oil Drilling
AB 3233, part of a trio of bills that the governor just signed, paves a clear path for local phase-out efforts.
This morning, Governor Newsom signed a trio of bills—AB 3233 (Addis), AB 1866 (Hart), and AB 2716 (Bryan)—that will protect communities in Los Angeles and across the state from the harms of oil and gas production, the impacts of which are disproportionately experienced in low-income communities of color across the state. He signed the package …
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CONTINUE READINGCommunity Solar: Compensation
Who gets the money? Compensation mechanisms are where a lot of the power of these programs resides, but naturally, also the debate.
This post is co-written by Naomi Caldwell (J.D. ’24, UCLA School of Law). Two recent posts explored community solar through the lens of its many potential benefits. (Part One on systemwide benefits and Part Two on local and individual benefits.) Today’s post follows the money, exploring community solar compensation mechanisms. The question of who makes …
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