Governor Newsom applauds updates to California’s Cap-and-Invest Program

Today’s updates help advance affordability and maintain California’s ongoing Cap-and-Invest Program, which remains the most cost-effective way for California to achieve its statutory climate goals. The changes keep California on track to meet its 2030 and 2045 climate targets while supporting affordability for Californians, managing costs of the program, and maintaining a clear long-term signal for clean energy investment in the state. View the updates here [link to CARB Release].

California’s Cap-and-Invest Program is part of the larger suite of programs California has been deploying for two decades to address climate pollution. It establishes a declining limit on emissions from the largest polluters, including large factories, energy companies, and oil and gas suppliers, accounting for 80% of the state’s total climate emissions, and requires polluters who go beyond this limit to invest in projects to benefit Californians.

Cap-and-Invest stimulates both direct and indirect investment of tens of billions of dollars into the state’s economy with investments in clean energy, natural and working lands, local transit and rail projects, affordable and sustainable housing, clean water, healthy forests and wildfire prevention and response and more. The program is estimated to be 4–6 times more cost-effective than traditional prescriptive regulations.

Last year, the Governor and Legislature extended the Cap-and-Invest Program through AB 1207 (Irwin) and SB 840 (Limon), recognizing how the program is central to California’s ambitious leadership in cutting climate pollution in the state while growing the state’s economy and improving the quality of life for millions of Californians.

To date, Cap-and-Invest has:

• Helped California reach its 2020 climate target six years early
• Generated $35 billion dollars for climate investments
• Funded more than half a million projects statewide
• Supported 30,000 jobs
• Cut millions of tons of carbon
• Delivered $16 billion in utility bill credits directly to Californians

Today’s updates build on this success while navigating today’s economic realities. They also ensure California continues to lead at a time when climate policy is facing unprecedented opposition, direct attacks, and increasingly severe rollbacks at the federal level.