As one of the sunniest places in the world, we could technically meet all of our state’s energy needs with solar paired with storage. We strongly support incentive programs to take advantage of solar potential in the built environment, and catch more sunshine with solar and storage on homes, businesses, schools, warehouses, superstores, parking lots, and land along highways. California has tremendous solar potential in these areas where solar infrastructure can be built the fastest. The state’s recent decision to slash rooftop solar incentives has caused solar sales to plummet, jeopardizing California’s clean energy progress. Every viable rooftop without solar panels represents a missed opportunity, so we will work to remedy this situation and keep solar growing in all the smartest places by ensuring we count the true value of rooftop solar and catch the sun’s rays while minimizing the impact on our natural spaces.

‘The cleanest energy’ is the energy we don’t use. Reducing energy use is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to reduce dependence on dirty, outdated energy sources. In 2024, we’ll promote resources like our Clean Energy Home Toolkit to help Californians maximize energy savings and take advantage of financial incentives to do so. We’ll encourage greater adoption of energy saving technologies like smart thermostats and smart lighting in both residential and commercial settings, and will work to expand and promote demand response programs to incentivize energy conservation especially when demand is high. We’ll support efforts to use energy more wisely, especially by some of the biggest energy users in the state.

We will work to make sure the CEC stays on track for its statewide goal of at least 25 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2045, and ensure that we do so while protecting our vibrant marine ecology. We support investing in electricity grid and port updates so we can go big on offshore wind. We’ll fight to secure long-term funding to support offshore wind while also monitoring its impacts to ensure thriving marine ecosystems.

Catching the sun on existing rooftops across the state is critical to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals. We’ve built nearly 2 million solar roofs, now we need to build a more resilient electricity grid with a million solar batteries that can save that solar for later. We also support innovative ways to deploy more battery storage like repurposing used electric vehicle batteries at the end of their lives to store more clean, solar energy, and supporting vehicle-to-grid technologies so that our state’s growing fleet of electric vehicles can help store energy and power homes when needed.

The transmission wires that make up California’s electric grid need upgrades to handle all the new electricity needed to reach 100% clean energy. These aging, inefficient power lines are more prone to starting wildfires and cannot keep up with all the new clean energy being added to the grid each year. Common sense upgrades to get the most out of our current system will reduce new transmission infrastructure needed to meet our climate and clean energy goals.

Adopting grid enhancing technologies helps maximize the capacity of existing power lines, a low-cost way to keep clean energy flowing to where it is needed. Upgrading, or reconductoring, old lines can potentially double their capacity without increasing the footprint of transmission towers or triggering lengthy permitting processes. It’s time to “unlock” new renewable energy by using existing wires more efficiently and making smart upgrades to increase transmission capacity.

Our buildings no longer have to pollute the air and contribute to climate change. We support energy efficiency measures and electrifying home heating, cooling, hot water and cooking, so that the sun and the wind powers our buildings, rather than fossil fuels.

As California transitions to clean energy sources and the state’s fossil fuel industry declines, we must ensure that Californians are protected from oil and gas wells that stop producing in the years to come. Idle and orphan oil wells pose an increasing risk to California’s environment, public health, and finances. It’s not enough that these wells should be plugged in a timely manner: the oil and gas industry should be responsible for funding these critical cleanup efforts. We will also fight to remove wasteful subsidies benefiting the oil and gas industry from California’s budget. It makes no sense to spend state dollars on the fossil fuel industry, especially when a budget deficit threatens funding for clean energy and climate programs.

We support a pathway that will truly protect 30% of our land, ocean and waterways by 2030 and sustainably manage 100% of our state’s natural environments. We will work to ensure that California’s commitment to conservation results in tangible protections and benefits for our rich ecosystems.

While approximately 16% of California’s coastal waters are conserved, only 12% have the level of protection scientists say is needed to defend against biodiversity loss and climate impacts. We’re working to strengthen and expand California’s network of marine protected areas as well as establish new national marine sanctuaries, like the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary and also strengthening protections at the Farallones.

Kelp forests have been devastated in the past decade. We support protecting existing kelp forest as part of the Marine Protected Area network and legislative efforts to restore kelp forests and eel grass.

We support permanently protecting more of California’s most beautiful places including, the Chuckwalla National Monument, expanding Joshua Tree National Monument. Medicine Lake Highland National Monument, Kw’tsán National Monument, the San Gabriel National Monument and Berryessa Snow National Monument.

We support efforts to reduce the deluge of single use plastics that harm our wildlife, perpetuate fossil fuel dependence and create needless waste. We support strong implementation of the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act and reduce wasteful use of plastic- from online shopping to plastic bottles. We support State Sens. Catherine Blakespear and Ben Allen and Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan bills to strengthen California’s ban on single-use plastic grocery bags; SB1053 and AB2236.

We support an end to offshore oil drilling. The disastrous Orange County oil spill demonstrated that when we drill, we spill. We must work to end drilling offshore as fast as possible,  ensure the current rigs are decommissioned safely and that polluters foot the bill. 

Our forests, both in California and across the globe, provide habitat for critical species and help us fight climate change. We support protecting mature and old growth forests and trees from logging, degradation and deforestation.

 We oppose cutting critical clean air and clean transportation programs or delaying investments for later years. We support finding new sources of funding from ending wasteful oil subsidies to repurposing legacy highway projects before cutting zero emission vehicle investments.

We are working to double the amount of trips taken on public transit in the next ten years by promoting robust, clean powered transit systems and smart growth policies. We support more bike lanes and pedestrian walkways to get more people out of their cars and moving from A to B with people powered energy.

E-Bikes hold the promise of clean transportation for millions of Californians while reducing congestion and air pollution. We aim to get the state to set an ambitious goal of  a million e-bikes and putting in place incentive programs to make electric bicycles accessible for all Californians.

We support increased investment now in building a statewide electric vehicle charging station network so that all Californians can recharge where they live, work and play and so that buses, trucks and off road vehicles have adequate charging support.

The dirtiest cars in the state can cause the biggest problems when it comes to pollution. We will work to take the dirtiest cars off the road by expanding successful local programs like Clean Cars 4 All, allowing more people to replace their polluting clunker with a clean, electric vehicle, e-bike or public transit pass.

Bees are dying off at an unsustainable rate, with serious consequences for our natural world. Nearly 1 in 4 native bee species are at risk of going extinct and honeybee colonies are collapsing. Losing bees has a devastating ripple effect across all ecosystems. That’s why we’re working to expand bee habitat and close the loophole with pesticide treated seeds.

The Western Monarch butterfly population has plummeted in recent years. We support the immediate declaration of the Monarch as an endangered species and an action plan to restore their habitat and food source, and eliminate threats like butterfly-killing pesticides.

The climate is changing as we speak. Sea otters play a crucial role in maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems which helps reduce the impacts of climate change. We support the expansion of marine protections to allow for even greater population recovery and expanding habitat for sea otters. 

Human development has fragmented key habitats and increased animal motorist collisions. We support investments in more wildlife corridors like the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which broke ground last year, to restore migratory paths and reduce this threat. Especially by passing Recovering America’s Wildlife Act in Congress.

As drought becomes more severe and more of California’s precipitation comes in heavy deluges a few days a year, we need to take advantage of new federal funds to update cities with green stormwater infrastructure to prevent pollution from run-off, catch more rainwater, prevent sewage overflows and restore our water table.

Lead is a potent neurotoxin that affects how our children develop, learn, and behave. Yet, across the country thousands of tests are showing lead in the drinking water at schools, pre-schools, and/or child care centers. Environment California supports policies to get lead out of all drinking water, by testing for lead, replacing lead bearing parts in the water system and filtering water first.

We support the proposed ban on fracking and cyclic steam injection. We also support implementing public health buffer zones around current fossil fuel facilities as soon as possible to protect people living near oil drilling operations immediately.

For too long polluters have left a toxic trail in their wake and profited from extraction and pollution of our state’s resources. We support state and federal programs that ensure polluters pay to clean up toxic sites that threaten our air, water and soil and end subsidies for fossil fuels.