Contact: Jamie Pew – Jamie.Pew@nextgenpolicy.org

Statement from NextGen California Climate Policy Fellow Jamie Pew:
“Our Climate 100 Project makes the case that every tax dollar can help in the fight against the existential threat of climate change. Amidst a very challenging fiscal picture, our state’s leadership enacted a budget that maintains the lion’s share of last year’s historic $54 billion climate commitment, providing a crucial lifeline to many essential programs including our local transit systems. This budget agreement will help ensure the state stays on course in the pursuit of a climate-ready future,” said NextGen California Climate Policy Fellow, Jamie Pew.

“The race against climate change is both a sprint and a marathon. If we want to meet our climate goals, then funding for climate programs needs to be stable and ongoing, unshaken by threats of economic downturn. We at NextGen look forward to working with the state’s leadership to restore the funding cuts to community resilience programs, to eliminate subsidies for the oil and gas industry, and to maintain funding levels for the Climate Commitment in the next fiscal year and beyond. Ultimately, California must look past one-time, general fund spending and fully align every area of government spending with our climate goals.”

###

About NextGen Policy’s Climate 100 project: California must stop treating climate as a niche spending category, separate from the primary functioning of the state. Every taxpayer dollar spent is connected to the climate crisis. We need a bold, integrated investment strategy that puts 100% of our state budget to work in ways that advance California’s clean energy objectives, fostering equity and prosperity, and building more resilient communities.