During the keynote session, Governor Gavin Newsom said federal and state partners have a mutual responsibility to engage with tribal nations to support their decarbonization efforts.  

“The issue that brings me to this conference is the notion that we’re all in this together,” he said. “We have a responsibility to be supportive of one another, and to work as true partners with tribal nations to make sure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.” 

CEC Chair David Hochschild recognized the progress California is making toward its clean energy goals.  

“California is the incubator of clean energy policies, and what we do here spreads around the country and around the world,” Hochschild said.  

He highlighted some of the state’s clean energy achievements such as building microgrids on tribal lands to support tribal sovereignty; discussions with federal, military, tribal, and local governments to develop offshore wind; exploring new ways to build out lithium recovery in the state; electrifying the transportation sector.  

The conference featured several panels including one on female leaders advancing California tribal energy, which was moderated by Christina Snyder, Governor Newsom’s tribal advisor, and featuring CEC Commissioner Karen Douglas, CPUC Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, GC Green Energy President Elizabeth Perez, and Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians Attorney General Denise Turner Walsh. 

Another panel highlighted CEC’s research efforts on energy resilience through its Electric Program Investment Charge program. Each year, more than $130 million in EPIC funding is invested in projects that advance the environmental sustainability, reliability, and affordability of the electric system. 

California is the most energy efficient state in the nation, a ranking it last held in 2016 from the national 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard.

The top ranking from the American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit that advances energy efficiency, is a testament to California’s clean energy policies and consistent efforts to promote energy conservation and flexibility. 

Despite COVID-19 and the economic recession, some states continued to successfully prioritize energy efficiency as an important resource to help reduce household and business energy bills, create jobs, and reduce emissions. California set the pace by enacting energy efficiency building codes and stringent vehicle emissions standards. It has led the charge on vehicle electrification and strengthened lighting and appliance standards amid federal rollback efforts, according to the ACEEE. 

In January, California utility regulators approved $45 million in incentives for high-efficiency heat pump water heaters, a crucial technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In September, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order calling for new gasoline-powered vehicles to be phased out by 2035. 

Energy efficiency has been critical to the state’s environmental efforts for the last four decades. The ACEEE honor recognizes California’s national leadership and the key role that energy efficiency continues to play in the fight against the climate crisis, Newsom said. 

“Our legacy of success in the area—choosing to embrace a smarter way of using energy and keeping energy use steady as our economy and popular grow—gives us confidence to tackle the challenges before us today, and to enable the transition to 100 percent carbon-free electricity,” he said.  

The scorecard, which is in its 14th year, tracks the progress of programs and policies by evaluating the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. in the areas of utilities, transportation, building policies, state government initiatives, and appliance standards. California earned a score of 43 out of a possible 50 points, edging out Massachusetts. 

Increasing energy efficiency is one of the California Energy Commission (CEC)’s core responsibilities and part of the reason why the agency was created in 1975. 

“Efficiency is in our DNA,” said CEC Commissioner Andrew McAllister. 

The CEC’s energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances can lower utility bills, cut  air pollution, and save water. As a result, Californians have saved up to $100 billion over the last 40 years, according to the CEC’s Clean Energy Almanac.

The ACEEE’s scorecard for California highlighted several efforts that the CEC has led. The 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, which took effect in January 2020, are the first in the United States to require low-rise residential buildings to have solar photovoltaic systems. 

The CEC runs the state’s benchmarking program that helps multifamily and commercial building owners measure and track annual building energy use as part of efforts to improve the efficiency of their buildings.