On Tuesday, Californians passed Proposition 4, the first-ever climate bond to go before California voters. The proposition will provide $10 billion in bond funds for critical wildfire, flood protection, and other climate resilience projects around the state.

Conservation Strategy Group (CSG) has supported the development and passage of natural resource and infrastructure bonds in California for the last 22 years. Recognizing that climate change has fundamentally altered the types and scale of investments needed to protect our natural resources and communities, CSG worked on the development and passage of SB 867, which became Prop 4.

Prop 4 will address some of the most critical issues facing our state by funding projects that ensure clean drinking water throughout California, protect communities from floods, wildfire and extreme heat events, safeguard our state’s oceans, lakes, and rivers, protect our state’s biodiversity and natural lands, and support for clean energy infrastructure.

Funding Provisions in The Climate Bond

Some of the primary areas of investment in Prop 4 are highlighted below.

$3.8 Billion in Water Investments

• A large portion of the funding goes to protect and increase our state’s water supply and water quality to ensure more safe drinking water for Californians – particularly in disadvantaged communities. Investments go to increasing our groundwater storage, banking, and rechange as well as providing grants for water reuse and recycling projects. Additional investments address drought and flood risks, as well as further investments to protect and restore rivers, lakes and streams.

$1.5 Billion For Wildfire Resilience

• This funding will improve local fire prevention capacity, forest health and resilience, and reduce the risk of wildfire spreading into populated areas from wildlands by investing in regional strategies through the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. The funding also includes $50 million for long-term capital infrastructure projects that utilize wildfire mitigation waste for non-combustible uses. The State has set a goal to treat one million acres of forests in 2025, and this funding will be critical to achieving that goal in order to reduce wildfire risk statewide.

$1.2 Billion To Address Sea Level Rise and For Coastal Resilience

• This funding will go to programs and projects to address coastal resilience, including urban flooding. Additional investments address sea level rise mitigation and adaptations along with grants to increase resilience from the impacts of climate change on kelp forests and fisheries. 

$1.2 Billion To Protect Natural Lands and Preserving Biodiversity 

• A historic investment ($870 million) to the Wildlife Conservation Board will help the state to meet its 30% of protected lands by 2030, with a particular emphasis on improving habitat connectivity. Conservancies will also get direct funding to further 30×30 and improve habitat conditions regionally. 

$850 Million To Build Clean Energy Infrastructure

• This funding includes investments in deploying renewable energy and transmission infrastructure, which lay a foundation for meeting the state’s clean and affordable energy goals. The majority of the funding ($800 million) goes to  supporting the construction and expansion of offshore wind generation as well as public financing of clean energy transmission projects to reduce or offset ratepayer costs. Funding is also included for the Long-Duration Energy Storage Program.

Further investments in Prop 4 protect communities from extreme heat events and provide for the creation of parks and green spaces in the state.

The entire language and funding allocations in Prop 4 are available here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB867

CSG will continue to work closely with the Legislature and state agencies throughout the implementation process to ensure efficient funding allocations for key climate resilience, conservation, natural resources and energy programs happen.

For additional information please contact April Bird (april@csgcalifornia.com). To learn about other CSG projects and services, check out www.csgcalifornia.com. To stay up to date on conservation policy issues in California, sign up for our Policy Blog emails. To learn more about our long-term climate and energy policy work, see our nonprofit project Net-Zero California.