Keeping it Green

January - June 2019

In Governor Newsom’s State of the State Address in January, he reaffirmed that California “will never waver on achieving the nation’s most ambitious clean energy goals.” California is leading on so many green fronts.

Treasurer Ma serves as a member on the Climate Bonds Standard Board, which utilizes rigorous scientific criteria to label investments as “Climate Bond Certified” in certain countries. This body relies on the work of academics, engineers, public policy experts, attorneys, and climate scientists to objectively determine what is green and what is not. In this time when socially conscious investors are demanding more “green” investments, the STO sees the opportunity to demonstrate its leadership.

In the first six months of Treasurer Ma’s administration, the STO:

The first meeting of the California Green Bond Market Development Committee, Center for Environmental Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, in June.

• Launched the inaugural meeting of the California Green Bond Market Development Committee in June at the Center for Environmental Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy with the intent of developing the strategies and tactics necessary to lead California to a functioning green bond market that will be a model for other states and countries.


The Rialto Bioenergy Inc. facility in San Bernardino County.

• Closed a $117 million private activity tax-exempt green bond financing through the California Pollution Control Financing Authority (CPCFA) for the Rialto Bioenergy Facility. The borrower, Rialto Bioenergy Inc., is a small business located in San Bernardino County. Bond proceeds will be used to develop and build a nonhazardous solid waste treatment and disposal facility and purchase equipment.
• Helped homeowners, small businesses and affordable multifamily owners retrofit their buildings, reducing their energy footprint and improving health, comfort and operating costs. The California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing, administered by CAEATFA, works with private capital to provide better financing terms for Californians to undertake energy efficiency retrofits. More than 100 projects have been enrolled in the Residential Energy Efficiency Loan Assistance Program since January, helping California homeowners lower their energy burden and leveraging approximately $1.8 million in private capital. More than 53 percent of these projects are located in low-to-moderate income census tracts.

• Approved 18 projects through CAEATFA’s Sales and Use Tax Exclusion Program that span a range of industries, including capturing methane and processing organics to create biogas and biofuel, the development of zero emission advanced transportation technologies, and helping communities meet their recycling goals.
• Approved an extension of the term and changes to the infill grant agreement for the Los Angeles Premium Outlets project through CPCFA’s California Recycle Underutilized Sites (CALReUSE) brownfield remediation program. The remediation project has progressed to the point that the ground breaking recently occurred for the outlet mall. Significant progress has also been made on construction of the two housing developments associated with this project, Carson Arts Colony and Carson Veterans Village, to the point that both developments are expected to be fully occupied by fall of this year.
• Embraced CalSavers’ procurement of an Environmental, Social, and Governance investment option in January making California the first among peer states to offer a sustainable investing option.


Construction of Carson Veterans Village housing development.