WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: President Biden, alongside Governor Newsom, announced a $600 million investment for climate resilience projects across the country and $67 million to help build power lines to support the state’s transition to 100% clean electricity – emphasizing the need to accelerate these sorts of projects to fight back against climate change.
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom joined President Biden and a California Climate Action Corps volunteer in Palo Alto today to lift up the President’s announcement of more than $600 million in federal grant funding for climate resilience projects across the country.
President Biden also announced that California will receive $67 million in federal funding to help build power lines and transmission infrastructure, supporting the state’s transition to 100% clean electricity by 2045.
President Biden and Governor Newsom visited the Baylands Nature Preserve, one of the largest tracts of undisturbed marshland remaining in the San Francisco Bay. The Preserve is part of the Strategy to Advance Flood protection, Ecosystems and Recreation along the San Francisco Bay (SAFER Bay) Project, a flood and sea-level resilience project that will protect almost 1,600 properties and will enable the restoration of approximately 600 acres of marsh from former salt ponds.
What Governor Newsom said: “California’s wildfires, heat waves, and extreme swings from drought to flooding show how climate change is impacting our communities. There is no better partner in the fight against climate change than President Biden, who is making unprecedented investments and approaching this crisis with urgency. This new federal funding will support our ongoing climate action to protect our coastal communities from rising oceans and build the clean energy we need.”
What President Biden said during his remarks: “Throughout our history, we’re the only nation in the world to come out of crisis stronger than we went into it. We’re doing it again here on the climate crisis. When I think of climate, I think of jobs. When I think of climate, I think of innovation. When I think of climate, I think of turning peril into progress.”
HISTORIC STATE INVESTMENTS: California’s Climate Commitment, the $48 billion climate budget, includes $4.1 billion in climate resilience funding:
- $1.4 billion in investments over multiple years for nature-based solutions,
- $1.6 billion in investments over multiple years to promote community resilience,
- $734 million in investments over multiple years for coastal resilience,
- On June 1, the Coastal Conservancy awarded $78 million for climate resilience, public access, habitat restoration and wildfire resilience projects.
- $444 million over multiple years to address extreme heat.
CALIFORNIA’S SEA LEVEL RISE ACTION PLAN: Last year, California finalized an action plan to tackle sea level rise with a coordinated roadmap including priority investments, programs and policies for 17 state agencies and departments. The State Agency Sea Level Rise Action Plan includes over 80 actions grounded in the best available science, tribal and local partnerships equity, and other guiding principles.
CALIFORNIA CLIMATE ACTION CORPS: As a part of California’s comprehensive strategy to address the climate crisis, Governor Newsom launched the country’s first state-level, climate service corps to empower all Californians to take meaningful action to safeguard the climate. You can take meaningful action today to help communities across our state by serving in a year-long fellowship, volunteering, or taking action at home. Apply here with California Volunteers.