Investment Justice Through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

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Context

California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will soon result in billions of dollars to reduce carbon pollution while creating local environmental, public health, and economic co-benefits.  Senate Bill 535 (de León) requires that 25 percent of these monies go to projects that provide benefits to disadvantaged communities in California.  Achieving the goals of SB 535, and the larger umbrella of climate action under Assembly Bill 32 (Pavley), presents California not only with tremendous opportunities but also complex implementation challenges. To support the State’s planning and implementation, UCLA organized a working summit and now presents its outcome.

About

This policy paper aims to help advance a systematic path forward for climate action in disadvantaged communities.  The paper results from a workshop that included 150 representatives from civil society, academia, government, and the private sector.  The California Endowment was a primary sponsor of this convening, which was hosted by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation in partnership with many entities on March 21, 2014.  The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation produced this paper.

Authorship

The primary author of this paper is Colleen Callahan, Deputy Director of the UCLA Luskin Center.  Center Director J.R. DeShazo also contributed in numerous ways throughout.

The second half of the paper consists primarily of summaries from investment sector discussions at the workshop. Contributing authors included: Liz Bieber, Nathan Otto,  Isella Ramirez, CC Song, and Lisa Wu, with editing by Colleen Callahan and Liz Bieber. Participants in the focus groups provided feedback on draft versions.

Herbie Huff of the UCLA Lewis Center also authored a literature review.