2025-03-05T11:02:57-08:00 2024-06-30 Crosby & Kaneda CPAs LLP 548 Market St PMB 97503 San Francisco CA 94104 990 2023-07-01 450485495 The Climate Center CLIM 7075251665 1275 4th St 191 Santa Rosa CA 95404 Lois Downy CFO 2025-03-05 true true Felix Gorrindo P01658413 5108352727 2023 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z Lois Downy 1275 4th St 191 Santa Rosa CA 95404 3130318 false X www.theclimatecenter.org X 2002 CA The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California. 10 10 23 20 0 3236084 3068304 28876 48369 13126 13645 0 3278086 3130318 50000 59431 0 2272742 2459891 0 398802 663490 638500 2986232 3157822 291854 -27504 1186577 1138776 233637 213340 952940 925436 Were working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California. false false 980337 Policy Development & ImplementationThis year, The Climate Center pursued climate policy in California in five main areas: natural carbon sequestration, carbon dioxide removal, defending funding for existing climate priorities in the state budget, divesting state employee pension funds from oil and gas companies, and using the batteries in electric vehicles to provide power to our homes, businesses and the grid when needed.In 2022, The Climate Center co-led a coalition of over 80 organizations to pass a historic natural carbon sequestration law, AB 1757, requiring the state to set ambitious targets for 2030, 2038 and 2045 and to develop other natural climate solutions. We organized a group of environmental and conservation nonprofit organizations to give input into an extensive process led by California Natural Resources Agency, California Air Resources Board and California Department of Food & Agriculture that culminated in setting the actual scientific targets for carbon sequestration across six land types. As a result the state is positioned to over the next 20 years to transform over 50 million acres into healthier, climate-resilient landscapes, spanning farms, ranches, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.The UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prescription is clear: we must cut emissions in half by 2030 AND remove upwards of a trillion tons of carbon that we have already put in the atmosphere to stabilize the climate. The Climate Center is working to educate the environmental and environmental justice community in California on the need for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and the various options that have been initiated or are planned. We have also worked closely with Senator Becker on his SB 308, Carbon Dioxide Removal Market Development Act, which would require the the California Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require certain emitting entities to purchase negative emissions credits equal to a specified amount of their greenhouse gas emissions in each calendar year beginning in the 2028 calendar year. Our role is to work with environmental justice and environmental partners to ensure that there are adequate protections for local communities that are subject to CDR development in the bill. The bill has passed the senate and is headed to the assembly.We also worked leading a coalition of organizations around climate budget defense. This year California faced a $45 billion budget deficit. The Governors early proposed budget contained significant cuts to the historic climate investments committed to by the state in 2022. Although large cuts and delays to climate priorities were still part of the final budget, the coalition was able to work with legislators to prevent hundreds of millions in proposed cuts to key state climate programs, including:- Reversed $100 million in cuts to the Active Transportation Program, which funds biking and pedestrian infrastructure.- Directing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to ensure that existing clean car incentive programs for low-income and disadvantaged communities can continue operating making the best use of the money available.- Restored funding for offshore wind port investments- Preserved $551 million in the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program (EBD) in the 2024-2025 budgetWe also educated legislators and the public about the hundreds of millions, potentially billions of dollars in subsidies that are available through state tax code to oil and gas companies at the same time the industry is making record profits in California. We hope to get a state agency to provide a detailed analysis on what these subsidies are actually costing the state, so that legislators have the information that they need to close these loop holes. Another way that we worked with partners to try to provide the funding needed for climate adaptation and mitigation was working on a climate bond. There were two bills in the assembly and one in the senate related to the climate bond. The Climate Centers focus on the bond, which ended up representing $10 billion in climate investments, was to work with partners to ensure that natural and working lands were a significant part of the investment. The bond was voted out of the legislature and will be on the November ballot for California voters to decide if they want to support these climate investments. We will work with a broad coalition to educate the public about how these investments will create a healthier and safer California, as well as help the state meet its statutory climate goals.We also worked with Senator Gonzalezs office and other partners on SB 252 the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act. This bill would have prohibited the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) from investing in fossil fuel companies, and would require that they divest any current holdings in these companies by 2030. Unfortunately, after passing through the senate the bill could not get through a policy committee in the assembly.We worked with Senator Nancy Skinner on SB 59, a bill that aims to unlock the potential for millions of electric vehicles that will be sold in California to power homes during outages, lower energy bills for Californians, reduce air pollution, and make the electricity grid more reliable. The bill would authorize the California Air Resources Board to require that electric vehicles (EVs) sold in California have bidirectional capability. We are working with 200 organizations from across the state to help this bill become law by September 2024. This policy could be a significant part of ensuring that we have enough storage and flexibility in our electricity system to incorporate all the intermittent renewable energy that we need to get to our clean energy goals.In addition to our priority legislation, we played a significant role in helping pass a couple of climate bills focused on corporate accountability. We supported the passage of Senator Wieners SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, into law. This law will require all large, U.S.-based corporations doing business in California that make more than $1 billion annually to publicly disclose their full carbon footprint in a way that is easily understandable and available to the public. We also worked for the passage of SB 261, Senator Sterns bill which requires corporations to submit to the California Air Resources Board, and make available to the public on its own website, a report that discloses climate-related financial risk. Now that the Governor signed these two bills into law, we are working to ensure that they are funded by his administration. We are concerned that they are slow walking the implementation of these historic and critical laws. 743844 59431 Climate-Safe California Partnership BuildingFounded in 2001, The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California. We believe in thriving, healthy communities. We envision a future where everyone in California enjoys clean air and water, renewable and reliable energy, healthy food, thriving nature, and more. We believe that as goes California, so goes the world.Our signature campaign, Climate-Safe California, offers a roadmap for climate action in the worlds fifth-largest economy. Climate-Safe California is a set of policies that would enable California to remove more climate pollution from the atmosphere than we emit as soon as possible while creating thousands of jobs and repairing environmental injustices. Climate-Safe California and all of The Climate Centers work is guided by three core principles: follow the latest science, prioritize climate justice, and secure a just transition for workers. Currently, we have over 2,469 total endorsements from nonprofits, businesses, elected officials, cities, counties and other governmental bodies, and individuals. We have also built and engage with diverse coalitions to realize relevant policy components of Climate-Safe California, especially on facilitating community energy resilience with local scale solar and storage, setting aggressive emission reduction targets, phasing out fossil fuels, scaling up nature-based carbon sequestration, and securing the necessary funding for speed and scale implementation. 681435 48369 Public Outreach & CommunicationThe Climate Center has pursued multiple outreach strategies to educate decision makers and the public about the urgency of the climate crisis and an array of accelerated, equitable solutions that the state can pursue now to address it. The Climate Center hosted the 2024 California Climate Policy Summit on March 19 in Sacramento. We had over 400 people registered with featured speakers including Lauren Sanchez, the Governors Senior Climate Advisor, who spoke about the impact of oil and gas production on frontline communities, and numerous senators and assembly members from the California legislature. This event was followed by The Climate Centers Advocacy Day, during which participants met with 48 legislative offices and discussed critical climate policies. This year we produced nine webinars with more than 2,600 registrants. The webinars covered the science of the climate crisis, the impacts of the fossil fuel economy on local communities, a recap of the accomplishments and unfinished business of the 2023 CA legislative session, the impact of Californias budget deficit on state climate programs, and key climate policy solutions for consideration by Californias state decision makers. Presenters included California state legislators, state regulators, environmental justice groups, and community members.As an official Observer NGO The Climate Center helped organize the attendance of California delegation of decision makers at COP 28, in Dubai. We hosted an official UN side event on natural carbon sequestration and the importance of healthy soils with state officials, and international collaborators, held two press conferences, and organized an event on Californias climate accomplishments that included the Speaker of the CA Assembly, three senators and one additional assembly member. We also hosted private events including an international panel on what is needed for a managed transition away from fossil fuels, the appropriate role for green hydrogen, and harnessing the power of nature in achieving the worlds 1.5 C goal. COP is an opportunity to educate leaders from other parts of the world about climate solutions that California is leading on as well as an opportunity for state lawmakers to learn about and be inspired about solutions being implemented in other countries. Our efforts have also garnered significant media coverage in California, raising public awareness and building momentum for accelerated, equitable climate action. This year, we were quoted, cited, or mentioned in 84 news stories between July 2023 and June 2024 and we published two op-eds (Governor Newsom: Save lives, not fossil fuel corporations, Capitol Weekly, April 18, 2024 and A Sacramento fossil fuel lobbyist bragged about corrupting the democratic process, Sacramento Bee, July 22, 2023). Weve also held events for supporters in Los Angeles and San Francisco to highlight our work. This year, we produced a policy report called Reforming Californias Cap and Trade Program. The California Cap and Trade Program plays a pivotal role in the states efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A review of the program ahead of the upcoming 2025 compliance period has opened a critical window of opportunity to address and correct the programs recognized shortcomings. In this policy brief, we outline three crucial enhancements to improve the effectiveness of the program in advancing Californias climate goals. At the same time the California Air Resources Board is doing a public reassessment of the cap and trade program, particularly around reducing the oversupply of pollution allowances on the market. We have submitted a couple of public comment letters to CARB with our partners to push CARB to be aggressive in restricting allowances and make other necessary reforms to the program.Our team is also working on a paper that will address Californias current electricity affordability crisis by laying out a clear vision for a future electricity system that relies more heavily on distributed energy resources and will be more affordable for ratepayers, but also more reliable, resilient, and safe. 2405616 true true false true false false false false false false true false false false false true true false false false false false false false false false false true false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 9 0 true 23 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 10 10 false false false false false false false true true false false true true true true true true true true false CA X X Lois Downy 7075251665 1275 4th St Ste 191 Santa Rosa CA 95404 Ellie Cohen CEO 40.00 0.00 X 202750 0 29779 Jeri Howland Dir. Philanthropy 40.00 0.00 158730 0 20723 Barry Vesser COO 40.00 0.00 X 132525 0 22997 Lois Downy CFO 40.00 0.00 X 132787 0 16568 Kurt Johnson Com Energy Res Dir 40.00 0.00 122350 0 25022 Ryan Schleeter Communications Dir 40.00 0.00 129351 0 10352 Lokelani Devone President 4.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Susan Thomas Past Chair 4.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Venise Curry MD Vice President 2.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Elliot Hinds Treasurer 2.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Jean Fraser Secretary 2.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Susan Longville Board Member 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Mary Luevano Board Member 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Carl Mears Board Member 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Steve Nissen Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Lisa Whitescarver Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 878493 125441 6 false true false Tratten-Price Consulting 5445 Madison Ave Sacramento CA 95841 Politcal/lobby consulting 101500 1 318 3067986 832 3068304 Conference 900099 48369 48369 48369 13645 13645 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3130318 48369 13645 59431 59431 0 0 0 549239 365818 166681 16740 0 1525039 1171089 95456 258494 45410 35233 3583 6594 184896 139245 16495 29156 155307 114885 19357 21065 0 0 16900 16900 21200 21200 0 0 203699 200328 1319 2052 8407 4351 885 3171 59112 29572 5041 24499 121332 80917 13001 27414 0 16801 12543 2076 2182 80311 73734 3971 2606 0 61523 58615 42 2866 0 0 29807 29807 10979 3175 7226 578 Dues, licenses & service fees 4597 2257 955 1385 Bad debt 3000 3000 In-kind goods 832 416 416 0 3157822 2405616 353404 398802 627346 645049 184357 60782 78500 201000 19091 36068 0 0 0 0 55227 56788 89420 49678 69549 39742 152507 99347 0 0 0 0 1186577 1138776 233637 213340 233637 213340 X 676288 417606 276652 507830 952940 925436 1186577 1138776 -27504 X false true X true false X 1505893 2108288 2404099 3236084 3068304 12322668 0 0 1505893 2108288 2404099 3236084 3068304 12322668 2301752 10020916 4948 2051 2490 13126 12008 34623 0 778 778 12358069 99244 0.81090 0.82550 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED false false 20866 39213 60079 3097743 3157822 307891 76973 false 251199 276764 299312 307891 1135166 1702749 53435 58858 77832 60079 250204 62800 69191 74828 76973 283792 425688 7906 8757 14344 20866 51873 89420 49678 39742 39742 X 3130318 3130318 3130318 3157822 3157822 3157822 Part X : FIN48 Footnote The Internal Revenue Service and the California Franchise Tax Board have determined that the Organization is exempt from federal and state income taxes under IRC 501(c)(3) and California RTC 23701(d). The Organization has evaluated its current tax positions as of June 30, 2024 and is not aware of any significant uncertain tax positions for which a reserve would be necessary. The Organizations tax returns are generally subject to examination by federal and state taxing authorities for three and four years, respectively, after they are filed. true Carbon Cycle Institute 245 Kentucky St Ste D Petaluma CA 94952 462694752 501c3 50000 0 Pass through grant SF Estuary Institute 4911 Central Ave Richmond CA 94804 942951373 501c3 8000 0 Partner pass through stipend 2 0 Grantmaker's Description of How Grants are Used The Organization's Sequestration Program Manager participates in the natural carbon sequestration coalition and receives regular updates on the activities of the grant recipients. X X false false false false false false false false false Barry Vesser COO 132275 250 3968 19029 155522 Ellie Cohen CEO 202500 250 6075 23704 232529 Jeri Howland Dir. Philanthropy 158730 4762 15961 179453 Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 1a The Executive Committee performs the annual performance evaluation of the CEO. All other tasks approved by full board. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b Once 990 is prepared and reviewed by the CFO and the Finance Committee of the Board, it is provided to the full BOD for review and comment before submission. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c Board members submit a Conflict of Interest Disclosure form each year that certifies that they have read and understood the organizations Conflict of Interest policy and that they agree to comply with the policy. Board members also disclose any affiliations and potential conflicts so that the board may review them to determine whether any steps need to be taken to comply with the policy. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15a Compensation was reviewed and approved by BOD based on comparability data, i.e. "Fair Pay for Northern California Nonprofits". Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15b Compensation of CFO, COO, and Director of Philanthropy reviewed and approved by CEO based on "Fair Pay for Northern California Nonprofits and included in annual budget approved by BOD. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 On website and by request.