State Budget Must Ensure California Meets Climate, Clean Energy Goals

“California faces overlapping budget and climate crises, and their impacts are not equally felt. With scientists concluding this decade is our best chance to protect Californians from the most dangerous effects of climate change, confronting this tough deficit must not overshadow our need for committed climate leadership. We get one shot to protect California communities from a future shaped by extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and harmful pollution but the state is not yet acting at the scale required for success.

“Bold action this decade provides our best chance to prevent a catastrophic climate future. Our leaders recognized this when state coffers were full, adopting more ambitious clean energy goals and dedicating $54 billion to climate solutions. Now, they must demonstrate these are not priorities of convenience but a necessity to protect health, lives, and livelihoods.

“EDF looks forward to working with the governor and lawmakers to ensure the final state budget agreement meets this standard. We are particularly interested in investments to prevent extreme wildfires by increasing forest resilience, to ensure an affordable, reliable, and equitable transition to clean energy, to accelerate the deployment of zero-emission trucks and infrastructure, and to improve groundwater sustainability in ways that create a range of public benefits through the Multi-Benefit Land Repurposing Program.”

- Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California State Director, Environmental Defense Fund