Cap & Trade Revenue Advocacy

Post Type

Since 2014, Public Advocates has worked to allocate cap-and-trade revenues for the benefit of underserved populations, particularly in the areas of affordable housing and transit. These revenues, in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction fund, generate $1 billion annually for affordable housing and transit. Appropriations to the housing and transit programs have already resulted in the avoidance of 13.1 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the removal of more than 400,000 cars from the road, and the creation of more than 20,000 new affordable homes since 2014.

In 2025, we helped win the extension of those programs as part of the renewal of the renamed Cap and Invest program.

About the Campaign

Since 2013, Public Advocates has been working on cap and trade enforcement to ensure that revenue from California’s cap-and-trade program goes to help low-income communities throughout California that suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change. This work started in 2012 with the passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 1532, which required an investment plan to ensure that cap and trade proceeds reduced greenhouse gas emissions while maximizing job creation, public health, and other “co-benefits,” while directing “investment toward the most disadvantaged communities and households in the state.”

In 2013, Public Advocates worked with Senator Ricardo Lara and more than 50 environmental justice, social equity, and labor organizations on Senate Bill (SB) 605, which requires that any excess revenues are invested immediately in disadvantaged communities, while strengthening safeguards and restricting cap-and-trade offsets.

In 2015, Public Advocates, as part of the Sustainable Communities for All Coalition, won a substantial investment of cap and trade revenues into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC), and the Low Carbon Transit Operating Program (LCTOP). These investments will restore transit routes that have been cut in low-income communities and focus affordable housing production in transit-oriented communities to stabilize low-income neighborhoods as they gentrify, preventing mass displacement.

In 2016, Public Advocates, along with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, the Coalition for Clean Air, and the Greenlining Institute, won Senate Bill (SB) 1550, which directs 25% of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to be spent in and benefit disadvantaged communities and an additional 25% of the GGRF to benefit low-income households

In 2025, Public Advocates, with our housing and transit partners, worked to protect the continuous appropriation of Greenhouse Gas Reduction funds for the AHSC and the LCTOP. The reauthorization of Cap and Trade will provide up to $800 million annually for AHSC, $400 million annually for Transit and Intercity Rail Capital program, and $200 million annually for LCTOP (if auction proceeds are high enough).