Crafting California's Recovery Amid the Pandemic, Heat Wave and Wildfires

Crafting California’s Recovery Amid the Pandemic, Heat Wave and Wildfires

On this week’s Political Climate, Tom Steyer discusses advising Gov. Newsom on California’s COVID-19 sustainable recovery efforts and why he’s excited about Joe Biden’s climate plan.

Julia Pyper August 27, 2020

Julia Pyper

Senior Editor
Greentech Media

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering the energy transition. She is also the host and producer of the Political Climate podcast. She previously reported for E&E Publishing, and has covered clean energy and climate change issues across the U.S. and abroad, including in India, Haiti, Israel and the Maldives. She holds degrees from McGill and Columbia Universities. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

The Golden State is in a dark place. Power outages in the midst of a historic heat wave were followed by devastating wildfires. And all of this comes on top of persistently high COVID-19 case numbers and a once-roaring state economy now faced with a $54 billion budget shortfall.

But despite these challenges, there’s reason to believe that California can build back in an economically and environmentally sustainable way, says Tom Steyer, former Democratic presidential candidate, billionaire climate activist and co-chair of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s economic recovery task force.

We speak to Steyer on this episode of Political Climate, the second episode in our "Relief, Rescue, Rebuild" series. We take a look at California and how the most populous state in the nation with ambitious climate goals is crafting its economic recovery plan in the midst of the pandemic, extreme heat and brutal wildfires.

The "Relief, Rescue, Rebuild" series explores what a green recovery from the COVID-19 economic downturn would look like. What kinds of actions will produce the best results in terms of economic growth, improved health, lower emissions and greater resilience?