Maintaining Climate Integrity in California’s Cap and Invest Program Webinar – 13 August 2026
The Clean Coalition is a partner organization for this webinar, which takes place on 13 August 2026 at 10am.
The Climate Center believes in thriving, healthy communities. They envision a future where everyone in California enjoys clean air and water, renewable and reliable energy, healthy food, and abundant nature. California has the tools and the know-how to make this vision a reality if our elected leaders summon the political will. It is time we put people back at the heart of policy. In doing so, we can keep our friends and loved ones safe from worsening climate disasters, create millions of family-sustaining jobs, and give everyone the chance to thrive in the clean energy economy.
Webinar: Maintaining Climate Integrity in California’s Cap and Invest Program
Thursday, 13 August 2026 at 10am to 11:30am PST
Chevron is California’s largest polluter and one of the biggest lobbying spenders in the state. Photo by Asim Bharwani Flickr.
The latest reforms to California’s Cap and Invest program are the most consequential in years, and the outcomes will shape the state’s climate trajectory through 2045. In this webinar, environmental leaders, academics, and carbon market experts will walk through key elements under negotiation, including reforms to the offsets program, potential linkage to Washington, the changes in the number of allowances in circulation, and the Manufacturing Decarbonization Incentive (MDI) and its potential impact on the state’s primary source for climate funding — the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
Decision-makers at the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the agency that oversees Cap and Invest, have given industry stakeholders far too much influence over the new regulations, putting funding for longstanding climate programs at risk. Throughout the discussion, we’ll return to the central question that should be guiding these rulemaking processes: how can California maintain climate integrity while balancing economic and political pressures on the program?
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Speakers
Baani Behniwal (Moderator)
Baani is The Climate Center’s Carbon Drawdown Director. Baani joined The Climate Center in June of 2022. She leads the organization’s work on advancing nature-based carbon sequestration solutions to fight the climate crisis while protecting our natural lands and delivering a multitude of co-benefits for both the environment and affected communities. She also leads the organization’s policy work to address the emerging mechanical carbon dioxide removal market.
Allison Hilliard (Moderator)
Allison is The Climate Center’s Government Affairs Director. In this role, she works closely with the initiative leaders and other staff to ensure California implements policies that effectively reduce climate pollution and secure resilient communities. Allison is The Climate Center’s voice in Sacramento, representing the organization to advocate and build coalitions and partnerships to support The Climate Center’s goals and secure a climate-safe future for all.
Paul Mason
Paul Mason is the Vice President of Policy & Incentives at the Pacific Forest Trust. For nearly 25 years he has been a leading advocate on natural resource issues in Sacramento where he serves as a regular advisor to policymakers and partner organizations. Since 2017 he has organized diverse coalitions to build consensus and political support for policy changes in California to improve landscape resilience to wildfire and other climate stressors.
Shana Lazerow
Shana Lazerow is Legal Co-Director at Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). CBE combines community organizing, research / policy and legal advocacy to empower low-income communities of color around environmental justice, including energy and climate justice. Under her co-direction, CBE’s legal department received the prestigious California Lawyers Association 2025 Trailblazer Award for its innovative and impactful work.
Dr. Danny Cullenward
Danny Cullenward is an economist and lawyer focused on the scientific integrity of climate policy. He is the co-author of Making Climate Policy Work (with David G. Victor), a book about the political economy of carbon markets. Dr. Cullenward is a Senior Fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal at American University, and the Vice Chair of California’s Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee.
Chloe Ames
Chloe Ames is a Climate Policy Advisor at NextGen Policy. Her policy areas of focus include climate and clean energy planning and deployment, with an emphasis on Cap-and-Invest program implementation. Her work focuses on building a resilient, equitable, and thriving California in the face of existing and future climate impacts. Before joining the NextGen Policy team, Chloe worked for the Union of Concerned Scientists as the Senior Outreach Organizer on national climate and clean energy issues.
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