Apr 2, 2024
The Vermont Legislature is advancing legislation requiring big fossil fuel companies pay a share of the damage caused by climate change
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The Vermont Legislature is advancing legislation requiring big fossil fuel companies pay a share of the damage caused by climate change
Among the closely watched items are reauthorization of California’s signature cap-and-trade program and expansion of a regional electricity
Excerpt from this LA Times story:
After months of negotiation, California legislative leaders on Wednesday reached an eleventh-hour agreement on a suite of closely watched climate and energy bills.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) announced the deal just days before the the legislative session ends on Friday. It includes reauthorization of California’s signature cap-and-trade program and the expansion of a regional electricity market, among other items.
Among the most prominent items is the extension of California’s nation-leading cap-and-trade program beyond its 2030 expiration date to 2045. The program sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions and allows large polluters to buy and sell unused emission allowances at quarterly auctions.
Cap-and-trade is seen as crucial for California to comply with its climate goals — including reaching carbon neutrality by 2045 — and also brings in billions in revenue that helps fund state climate efforts such as the high-speed rail and safe drinking water programs. Newsom for months had been pushing for the program to be reauthorized largely in its current form, while environmental groups were hoping to see changes in how the program is run and where the money is spent.
Revised language released Wednesday, including Senate Bill 840 and Assembly Bill 1207, includes some but not all of the changes they had hoped for, such as prioritized funding for nature-based climate solutions and a proposal to provide direct consumer rebates from the California Climate Mitigation Fund to help address affordability concerns.
Also included in the package was AB 825, which creates a pathway for California to participate in a regional electricity market. If passed, the bill would expand partnership with other Western states to buy and sell more clean power in a move supporters say will improve grid reliability and save money for ratepayers.
Also included in Wednesday’s package was SB 352, which would establish an air pollution monitoring program in some of the state’s most heavily polluted communities, and SB 254, which would replenish the state’s wildfire liability fund to help cover wildfire damage and finance mitigation efforts, among other items
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I always think about climate justice as multitasking. We live in a time of multiple overlapping crises: we have a health emergency; we have a housing emergency; we have an inequality emergency; we have a racial injustice emergency; and we have a climate emergency, so we’re not going to get anywhere if we try to address them one at a time. We need responses that are truly intersectional. So how about as we decarbonise and create a less polluted world, we also build a much fairer society on multiple fronts?
Many environmentalists hear that and think: “Well, that sounds a lot harder than just implementing a carbon tax or switching to green energy.” And the argument we make in the climate justice movement is that what we’re trying to do is to build a power base that is invested in climate action. Because if you’re only talking about carbon, then anybody who has a more daily emergency – whether it’s police violence, gender violence or housing precarity – is going to think: “That’s a rich person problem. I’m focused on the daily emergency of staying alive.” But if you can connect the issues and show how climate action can create better jobs and redress gaping inequalities, and lower stress levels, then you start getting people’s attention and you build a broader constituency that is invested in getting climate policies passed." Naomi Klein
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