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The California Air Resources Board (CARB) invites interested parties to participate in a public workshop on updates to the California Cap-and-Invest Program (formerly Cap-and-Trade). CARB staff will provide an overview of recently signed legislation, Assembly Bill 1207 (AB 1207, Irwin, statutes of 2025) and Senate Bill 840 (SB 840, Limón, statutes of 2025), that provides direction on the Cap-and-Invest Program and discuss related potential updates to the Cap-and-Trade Regulation (Regulation).
Date: October 29, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Location: Remote only
Staff will request written feedback following the workshop through 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on November 12, 2025. A link to submit written feedback will be posted to the Cap-and-Invest Meetings & Workshops webpage.
For special accommodations or language needs please contact ctworkshop@arb.ca.gov no later than October 22.
Workshop Registration
This public workshop will be available via Zoom. Attendees will be able to ask questions or provide comments during the workshop. All attendees must register in advance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about how to access the workshop by computer or by telephone.
Market-Sensitive Information and Workshop Materials
Given the existing market and the fact that some content could influence current market behavior, CARB will exercise due diligence to ensure all market influencing information is made available to all stakeholders at the same time. Workshop materials will be posted at 8 a.m. on October 29 to the Cap-and-Invest Meetings and Workshops webpage.
Cap-and-Invest Background
On September 19, 2025, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 840 (SB 840, Limón, statutes of 2025) and Assembly Bill 1207 (AB 1207, Irwin, statutes of 2025) into law. AB 1207 extends the program previously known as the Cap-and-Trade Program through 2045, providing investment and regulatory certainty for clean energy and technology, uplifting affordability for Californians, and giving additional direction to CARB. Now that the new legislation is law, CARB is working on updating the Regulation to reflect the direction and process in AB 1207. This work will build on the public process to update the Regulation that CARB started in 2023. The previous public process materials are available at the Cap-and-Invest Meetings and Workshops webpage. The formal rulemaking process will follow the Administrative Procedure Act with formal comment periods.
CARB first formally adopted the Cap-and-Trade Regulation in October 2011. The Board adopted amendments to the Regulation in June 2012, October 2013, April 2014, September 2014, June 2015, July 2017, March 2018, and December 2018. The California Cap-and-Invest Program and Québec Cap-and-Trade System have participated in a linked carbon market since January 2014. In 2017, AB 398 was passed by a supermajority in the Legislature and included prescriptive direction on the design of the program from 2021 through 2030.
The Cap-and-Trade Regulation establishes a declining limit on major sources of GHG emissions throughout California, and it creates a powerful economic incentive for significant investment in cleaner, more efficient technologies. The regulation is one of the measures adopted by CARB, pursuant to Health and Safety Code Sections 38500-38599 (AB 32) to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions and advance the State’s climate goals. It complements other measures to ensure that California cost-effectively meets its goals for GHG emissions reductions.
Real and Increasing Costs of Climate Change Impacts for Californians
The science behind climate change is irrefutable. With the increasing severity and frequency of drought, wildfire, extreme heat, and other impacts, Californians just have to look out their windows to know that climate change is real and rapidly getting worse. The impacts once thought decades away are happening now. Recent reports detail some of the impacts to the state:
- A 2024 national report ranked California the worst state for natural disasters fueled by a changing climate, with expected annual losses totaling more than $16 billion statewide.
- Home insurance is harder and more expensive to get. Seven of California’s largest property insurers, State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, USAA, Travelers, Nationwide and Chubb recently limited new homeowners policies in the Golden State — raising questions about the stability of the California home insurance market.
- During an 11-year period, exposure to wildfire smoke caused more than 50,000 deaths in California and more than $400 billion in economic impacts.
- During seven extreme heat events over the past decade, California experienced $7.7 billion in losses.
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