Energy and Environment

California Democrats are committed to leading the nation and the world in building a clean, resilient economy that delivers affordable, reliable energy, high-quality union jobs, healthy communities, restored ecosystems, and a safe climate for future generations. We believe the state’s transition away from fossil fuels, alongside protecting forests and natural lands, advancing sustainable agriculture, reducing pollution, and strengthening climate resilience, are not only an environmental necessity, but also an economic opportunity that should create union jobs, lower costs over time, improve public health, and reduce the pollution burden disproportionately borne by low-income communities and communities of color.

Climate Leadership & Emissions Reductions 

To be a climate leader and reduce emissions, California Democrats reaffirm our commitment to achieving: 

1. Recognize the climate crisis and urge elected leaders to declare a climate emergency;
2. 100% clean electricity by 2035 
3. Net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035
4. Support phasing out onshore and offshore fossil fuel extraction, production, distribution, sale, and use in California by December 2030;
5. Rapid emissions reductions from the electricity, transportation, buildings, and industrial sectors, using science-based pathways; and, 
6. Hold polluters accountable for the damage they have caused Californians by requiring large fossil fuel companies to pay into a state fund managed for the benefit of all Californians.
7. Oppose false climate solutions.

Reliable, Affordable & Clean Power System 

Energy is a human need and it must be accessible, safe, reliable, affordable, and not exacerbate climate change. Therefore, California Democrats will: 

1. Endorse necessary improvements in transmission and distribution grid modernization to support electrification and load growth requirements; 
2. Promote faster permitting for renewable projects, storage, and transmissions; 
3. Support utility accountability for affordability, reliability, and customer safety; 
4. Foster expanded energy storage, demand flexibility, and smart grid technologies; 
5. Reinforce investing in research and deployment of clean firm power such as geothermal and other emerging technologies; 
6. Advocate for funding to maintain a reliable electrical grid that will provide connectivity to all California communities; and, 
7. Prioritize the growth of distributed energy systems and microgrids that reduce energy burden and increase resiliency for all Californians, including renters and low-income families; and,
8. Support community-controlled energy.

Transportation & Mobility for All 

Transportation is California’s largest source of emissions. In order to create a clean transportation future where mobility is accessible to all, California Democrats will: 

1. Accelerate zero-emission vehicle adoption for passenger, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles; 
2. Defend California’s longstanding ability to set standards for tailpipe emissions; 
3. Promote a generous cash-for-clunkers program, beginning with the worst; polluting cars, so that the working and middle class have effective incentives to trade in their older cars for clean cars; 
4. Support expanding charging infrastructure statewide; 
5. Encourage investing in transit, walkable communities, and bicycle networks with transit-friendly zoning; 
6. Advance clean-fuel innovation for marine, aviation, freight corridors, and agriculture; and,
7. Support road-use charge alternatives to the gas tax that fund road costs fairly and protect low- and middle-income and rural drivers; and,
8. Oppose freeway expansion projects. 

Clean and Competitive Industry 

Industrial pollution is among the hardest to abate, and decarbonizing manufacturing and freight is essential to protecting communities and building a resilient economy. In order to create a clean and competitive economy, California Democrats will: 

1. Uphold requirements for new large industrial customers to pay for their own marginal water and clean-energy supply rather than socializing the costs to users; and, 
2. Facilitate innovation to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors (like cement and steel), including electrification of industrial heat, thermal energy storage, clean hydrogen, renewable fuels, and clean manufacturing technologies. 

Healthy Buildings, Homes & Communities 

To create healthy communities, California Democrats will: 

1. Encourage electrification of homes and commercial buildings as equipment is replaced, prioritizing affordability; 
2. Promote energy-efficient retrofits incentives with heat pump adoption for heating, cooling, and hot water; 
3. Uphold indoor air quality protections from fossil fuel combustion; 
4. Promote fossil-free, net-zero construction with durable, fire-resistant, energy-efficient materials built by a skilled and trained workforce; 
5. Prioritize dense infill development over suburban sprawl; 
6. Encourage policies and practices that enable communities to be resilient in the event of natural and human-made disasters; and, 
7. Provide green spaces and community gardens for all communities. 

Environmental Justice 

Frontline communities have endured the worst pollution and climate impacts, and justice demands policies that reduce harm, restore health, and invest in resilience. Clean air and safe water are fundamental rights. To champion environmental justice, California Democrats will: 

1. Prioritize reducing pollution and cumulative impacts in disadvantaged and frontline communities; 
2. Work toward reducing city and county dependence on fossil fuel industry tax revenue to enable local communities to phase out fossil fuel extraction; 
3. Favor enforcing setbacks for industrial sites near homes and sensitive areas, and requiring polluters to mitigate and compensate impacted communities; 
4. Support air monitoring requirements to protect frontline communities proximate to fossil fuel infrastructure;
5. Support tribal consultation and sovereignty in climate planning;
6. Facilitate investments that ensure climate adaptation for vulnerable communities; 
7. Support local communities’ land use authority to phase out any existing and zone out any future fossil fuel extraction located in their communities;
8. Champion safe, affordable drinking water for every Californian; and, 
9. Prioritize climate-resilient water strategies—including efficiency, stormwater capture, groundwater banking, and potable reuse—over desalination and new dams; and,
10. Support key environmental protection laws to protect communities from the impacts of climate change.

Wildfire Resilience 

More extreme wildfires threaten lives, ecosystems, and infrastructure. In order to be wildfire resilient, California Democrats will: 

1. Back forest and land-management strategies based in science; 
2. Advance modernized emergency response systems; 
3. Support hardening homes, communities, and utility infrastructure to stop the spread of fires; and, 
4. Support requirements for insurance companies to perform testing  of hazardous materials for all buildings and surrounding land damaged after wildfires, conduct and verify remediation to ensure safe habitability, and provide living support until homes and land are safe.
5. Support requirements for insurance companies to provide full cost of recovery for homes destroyed or damaged from wildfires and the resulting smoke; and
6. Support state-funded climate and wildfire research. 

Environment, Nature & Public Lands 

California’s landscapes and natural heritage must be preserved to promote biodiversity, cultural heritage, and climate resilience. To protect the environment, California Democrats will: 

1. Champion protecting California’s diverse flora and fauna: support the state’s goal of conserving 30 percent of the state’s land and waters by the year 2030 to preserve biodiversity and the open space necessary to support the adaptation of flora and fauna to climate impacts; 
2. Support protecting the coast, wetlands, oceans, and opposing offshore and onshore drilling; 
3. Work toward protecting California’s majestic forests by supporting sustainable forestry, funding for forest management, opposing clearcutting, and restoring climate-resilient native species; 
4. Promote protecting California’s iconic desert ecosystems, safeguard aquifers, natural springs, and wetlands vital to the desert ecosystem from drainage and exploitation; 
5. Encourage the protection of our treasured mountain and alpine lake ecosystems and restore the clarity and purity of their waters for future generations; 
6. Support the mandate to ensure clean drinking water for Californians by fully protecting all water sources, funding the treatment systems needed to clean up existing contamination; 
7. Champion California’s public lands for all to appreciate and support dedicated funding for state parks and full funding of state resource agencies; 
8. Oppose sales of public forests and parklands; 
9. Promote the rights of California American Indians and Tribal governments to steward sites of cultural and spiritual significance including, but not limited to, their ancestral burial, cultural, and sacred sites and, where possible, the return of lands to the jurisdiction and stewardship of American Indians and Tribal governments; 
10. Support zero-waste principles and statewide reductions of plastic pollution; 
11. Support extended producer responsibility policies that require manufacturers of non-recyclable or hazardous products to provide for the safe disposal of these products at the end of their useful life,
12. Support eliminating single-use plastics by 2030, mandating eco-friendly packaging and safe disposal; and,
13. Encourage and incentivize water resources planning that builds regional self-reliance and decreases reliance on intrastate water trading and transfers.

Agriculture & Food System 

California’s farmers, ranchers, and rural communities are critical partners in reducing emissions, improving soil health, and strengthening the state’s food system. To ensure agricultural and rural prosperity, California Democrats will: 

1. Favor regenerative agriculture and climate-smart farming; 
2. Prioritize advancing solutions that cut methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture through innovation, incentives, and collaboration with farmers and ranchers; 
3. Encourage policies that encourage plant-based alternatives to reduce reliance on high-emissions animal agriculture and promote humane treatment of farmed animals; 
4. Support reducing harmful pesticides; 
5. Accelerate the expansion of local food systems, farm-to-table programs, and community gardens; and, 
6. Promote strengthening rural economies in the clean-energy transition. 

A Clean-Energy Economy Built on Good Jobs 

A measured and orderly clean-energy transition must be powered by workforce development and strong labor standards. To promote a clean economy, California Democrats will: 

1. Support economic development that ensures fossil-fuel workers and communities are not left behind;
2. Promote public-private partnerships that drive innovation and long-term productivity; 
3. Support rapid deployment of the energy transition using skilled and trained workers and the highest union standards, including prevailing wage requirements and/or project labor agreements; and, 
4. Advocate for a public jobs program to support mitigating and adapting to climate change;