California voters pass $10B bond to help protect people from climate change

California voters appear set to approve a $10 billion bond package to fund key state climate and environmental priorities — a bright spot in what has been a dark election for U.S. climate efforts.

Proposition 4 was passing with nearly 58 percent voter approval on Wednesday morning according to the Associated Press. That’s a strong result that matches broader polling on U.S. voters’ support for government spending on clean water, clean air, and expanding wind and solar power.

“These investments are a long time coming — and it’s very encouraging that it had such strong support from the public throughout the process,” said Ryan Schleeter, communications director at The Climate Center, which worked with other environmental nonprofits in support of the measure. ​“Californians from all over the state are pretty consistently demanding more action to combat not just the root causes of climate change but its impacts.”

Passage of the ballot measure also serves as a reminder of the power that states have to take action in the face of federal inaction, said Laura Deehan, state director of nonprofit group Environment California.

“California has an even bigger role to play now if we’re going to move the entire world’s energy to be clean and renewable instead of dirty fossil fuels as fast as possible,” Deehan said.

Environmental and climate advocates are reeling in the wake of Tuesday’s presidential election, in which Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris. Trump has called for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, the country’s signature climate law, and eliminating the Biden administration’s regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants, and oil and gas wells.

“State by state, we feel there is opportunity to push positive change no matter what,” Deehan said. ​“The issues we work on are trans-partisan in nature.”

California’s Proposition 4 is the largest of 12 state and local climate and conservation ballot initiatives passed around the country on Tuesday, which will collectively raise more than $18 billion, according to The Nature Conservancy. Other major bond issuances include $6 billion for clean water projects in Suffolk County, New York, and $2 billion for land and water conservation programs in Minnesota.

What California is funding with $10 billion 

Proposition 4 will help build out the clean energy infrastructure needed to reduce carbon emissions causing climate change. It includes $475 million for infrastructure to support offshore wind development at California ports, $325 million for transmission grid projects and deployment of grid-enhancing technologies, and $50 million to fund long-duration energy storage projects.

But the bulk of its investment will go toward projects meant to help Californians adapt to the effects of climate change.

The measure includes $3.8 billion for drinking-water and groundwater projects, $1.5 billion for wildfire and forest programs, $1.2 billion for coastal resilience against sea-level rise, and roughly $500 million to reduce extreme heat exposure for communities.

Of the 10 deadliest wildfires in California’s history, six have occurred since 2017, spurred by increasingly extreme shifts between drought and precipitation. More than 725,000 state residents are served by water systems that don’t meet state drinking-water safety and reliability requirements, with climate change–driven drought increasingly stressing aquifers. And extreme heat is on the rise in the U.S. West and across the globe.

The bond will help backfill some gaps left by budget cuts this year, which slashed roughly $12 billion from Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2022 California Climate Commitment to spend $54 billion over five years on everything from zero-emissions vehicles to land-based carbon sequestration.

Those cuts ​“led to the cancellation of many programs that communities rely on to provide essential resilience funding,” said Daniel Barad, Western states policy manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists. The $10 billion bond will allow many of the already planned projects to be completed, and ​“also has the advantage of giving greater stability to certain government programs, ensuring that funds are distributed evenly when they are most needed,” he said.

Lower-income communities and communities of color are among those at greatest risk from these changing conditions. Proposition 4 will direct at least 40 percent of its funds to ​“directly benefit communities that have lower incomes or are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,” according to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“For years, Californians have been urging our elected officials to do more to prepare for the climate crisis,” said Baani Behniwal, who works on natural carbon sequestration for The Climate Center. With new funding for ​“clean air and water, solutions to extreme heat, wildfire readiness, and climate-beneficial agriculture, our leaders can now do more to address some of the most pressing issues facing the state.”

But $10 billion is ​“not enough to guarantee safety, resilience, and security in the face of growing climate extremes,” Bahniwal added. ​“The more our state invests today, the more lives and dollars we will save for years to come.”