Climate Change

Newsom’s priorities — for the last three weeks of the session — include ramping up targets for greenhouse gas reductions and clean electricity, and creating safety zones around new oil wells.

The state can expedite approval of renewable energy projects but rural counties say they already do their part with solar and wind farms. “We’re in the crosshairs, but we don’t think we are the right target here,” one rural advocate says.

State funding is insufficient so lower-income residents have trouble getting their subsidies. The problems jeopardize California’s climate and air pollution goals as electric car prices keep rising.

In a bid to avoid power shortages, state lawmakers approved funding that could save California’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

An outsized source of greenhouse gases, California cement companies are trying creative climate solutions to meet mandates. But they are seeking state help.

California’s climate change plan fails to provide substantial evidence that capturing carbon will meet ambitious greenhouse gas goals, critics say. The plan “does California a disservice,” one state advisor said.

Under the new scoping plan, California would almost eliminate oil and shift to renewable sources. But where’s the update on the controversial polluting-trading market known as cap and trade?

A climate change roadmap to be proposed in May aims to minimize costs while reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. Environmentalists say it’s too slow and reliant on carbon markets and capture technologies.

From housing and health to transportation and education, the Legislative Analyst’s Office provides a litany of sobering climate change impacts for California legislators to address as they enact policies and set budgets.

In a repeat of last year’s criticism, legislators were told there’s “a very real risk” the cap-and-trade program won’t meet California’s greenhouse gas goals. The state air board is revising the program.