A new report details how cap-and-trade investments are reducing climate-changing emissions while pumping money into local economies and improving public health and the environment across the state — especially in disadvantaged and low-income communities.
Nearly $1.4 billion in new funding last year went to projects across all of California’s 58 counties, almost double the $720 million spent in 2017. Projects ranged from creating more fire-resilient communities and ecosystems to installing water-efficient irrigation systems on farms to building more affordable housing and new public transit lines.
CDFA made nearly $106 million available through its Healthy Soils Program, Alternative Manure Management Program, and Dairy Digester Research and Development Program.
The state’s cap-and-trade program, which began in 2012, was re-authorized and improved in 2017 to ensure California continues to meet its ambitious climate change goals and that billions of dollars in auction proceeds keep flowing to communities across the state through California Climate Investments.
To date, $9.3 billion in cap-and-trade proceeds has been appropriated to 20 state agencies that have distributed $3.4 billion to projects that are either completed or under way across the state. CDFA has distributed $340 million of that. These “implemented” funds have leveraged an additional $10.8 billion from other sources.