California environmentalists are outraged over speculation that the state’s governor is pushing the oil industry’s wish list in negotiations to extend the state’s cap-and-trade climate program. Chris Busch took a pragmatic view of the bill language being circulated by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office. “Given how hard the politics are, let’s get this politics part done, and then the regulation can be improved over time,” he said.

Clean energy is taking over the world, driven by a combination of climate change policies and market economics. California has paced America in seizing this opportunity, building a thriving green economy through smart policy. But the fate of California’s cap-and-trade program, a cornerstone of the state’s green growth strategy, depends on the state Legislature extending the program beyond 2020.

A new report from Climate Policy Initiative provides a clear answer to the question of how to balance grid supply and demand every minute of every day, at a competitive cost, as the share of variable renewable energy increases: focus on flexibility.

Governor Jerry Brown is drafting proposals for extending California’s cap-and-trade programme, attempting to gain a two-thirds majority vote while assuaging industry and environmental campaigners. “The outlines of the deal… sound very positive, and will leave CARB significant scope to continue to improve the programme over time,” said Energy Innovation’s Chris Busch.

Governor Jerry Brown is drafting his own proposals to extend California’s cap-and-trade program, attempting to gain a two-thirds majority vote while assuaging industry and environmental campaigners. “The outlines of the deal… sound very positive, and will leave CARB significant scope to continue to improve the programme over time,” said Energy Innovation’s Chris Busch.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s (BNEF) New Energy Outlook 2017 is the newest report to predict a diminishing role for fossil fuels as renewable energy and battery storage become cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable grid resources to 2040.

In many markets, oversupply is chasing after flat or decreasing demand. Several states have provided subsidies or out-of-market support for plants that would otherwise retire. This article analyzes the proposed market reforms and evaluates each on policy merits.

Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement has encouraged major nations and leader states within the U.S. to reaffirm and strengthen their commitments. China and California have already begun forging new trails to capture this opportunity.

At a June 6 “roundtable” discussion, Democratic members of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) talked with representatives from clean energy companies to promote the Clean Air Act, citing its economic and job creation benefits.

The International Energy Agency reports clean energy technologies are not decarbonizing global energy systems fast enough to meet Paris Agreement goals. But IEA’s technological roadmap also shows where governments should double down on the technologies to secure a safe climate future at least cost.

Some of the fastest progress on clean energy is occurring in states led by Republican governors and legislators, and states carried by Donald J. Trump in the presidential election. From Georgia to the Dakotas, business and political leaders are embracing clean energy sources even as the Trump administration pushes for more exploitation of oil, gas and coal. Their leaders see tapping wind, and to a lesser degree the sun, as an economic strategy.

California Governor Jerry Brown is in China this week to promote action on climate change and clean energy. Amid the climate policy void left in President Trump’s wake after his announcement last week of the United States’ withdrawal from the world’s first truly global climate change agreement, Brown sees China as the remaining superpower that can steer the world onto a low-emissions path.

The United States no longer has a climate change target.

California is a beacon of hope for those in the climate-change-is-real category (and for those who want to see America continue to lead the world in innovation and environmental protection). And… let us not forget that some formidable American environmental accomplishments came at the hands of Republicans. “Everyone talks about red states and blue states,” said Hal Harvey, CEO of Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based policy research group. “We really have to start talking about green states and brown states.”

As President Trump retreats from the nation’s previous path on environmental policy, Brown has the distinction of being America’s unofficial ambassador on climate change. “The reference point for China is not Washington, it’s California,” said Hal Harvey, who runs energy and environmental think tank Energy Innovation. “They would rather learn from California than any other jurisdiction.”

In this interview, Busch discusses the results from the recent California allowance auction and the future of the state’s cap-and-trade program. “The selling of the full amount of current vintage allowances that were offered was the outstanding feature of the results… The price floor has had a significant effect in rebalancing supply and demand. I would say it is safe to assume we are not going to see a return to the very low sales of the last year.”

Suniva and SolarWorld want the government to take action against foreign companies — primarily Chinese companies — they say are exporting too many solar panel parts to the U.S.. Most likely, that action would be tariffs, which would in turn raise the prices of solar for businesses and homeowners.

California’s market-based program for fighting climate change had struggled badly over the past year. On Wednesday, it bounced back sharply. “It’s a validation of the overall program,” said Chris Busch, who tracks the California carbon market for San Francisco think tank Energy Innovation.

State regulators announced strong results from California’s cap-and-trade program on Wednesday. That’s a shift from other recent auctions, where most of the permits went unsold. But rules governing how the market for permits operates are helping to stabilize the system, said Chris Busch, research director at Energy Innovation. He called it “a triumph of policy design.”