Learn about the climate issues California is facing with issue briefs developed by researchers at the UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment and other subject matter experts.
CLIMATE ISSUE BRIEFS
Over the last six years, residential electricity rates have increased 8-10% annually–far exceeding inflation–with one in five customers behind on their energy bills. This brief identifies the primary cost drivers and presents ten options for the next governor, from wildfire mitigation reform to alternative rate design to regulatory agency reform.
California has made significant progress deploying clean energy – leading the nation in clean energy innovation and job creation. This brief outlines eleven policy areas where the next governor must balance aggressive decarbonization with affordability, reliability and support for transitioning workers.
Transforming transportation–the state’s largest source of pollution–creates a significant economic opportunity, while improving public health and expanding mobility options. This brief identifies thirteen key policy areas where the next governor can expand clean transportation infrastructure, stabilize public transit funding, and diversify clean energy investments.
California’s homes and commercial buildings are a central driver of the state’s affordability, energy, and infrastructure challenges – and also a clear opportunity to lower costs. This brief outlines the key policy and fiscal choices facing the next administration as it updates California’s approach to buildings and energy use.
California has successfully reduced emissions while growing the economy and leading the nation in clean energy deployment and climate policies. This brief identifies thirteen priority areas–from clean electricity and land use reform to wildfire management and environmental justice–where the next administration must move from ambition to durable, equitable implementation.
California can modernize water management to meet climate challenges while finding win-win solutions. While 2026 brought short-term drought relief, the long-term trend shows increasingly severe floods and droughts stressing systems designed for yesterday's supply and demand patterns. This brief identifies nine key policy areas where creative governance, strategic financing, and bold decisions can transform California's water future without relying on major new water sources.
A devastating increase in deadly wildfires driven by fossil fuel pollution and the climate crisis are a major threat to Californians' well-being and the state's economy as a whole. California’s largest and most destructive wildfires have occurred in the past 25 years. This brief outlines nine key policy areas where the next governor must balance funding allocations across prevention, mitigation and recovery, while addressing rising costs that Californians are paying through electricity rates, insurance premiums and rebuilding expenses.
COMING SOON
Resilience and Adaptation
California faces historic and interacting challenges of unaffordable housing and climate change. These challenges are partly rooted in the same cause: a history of exclusionary and car-oriented land use policy that have resulted in a housing shortage particularly acute in climate-friendly neighborhoods. This brief outlines eleven key policy areas where state leaders must better align land use and transportation planning.
