From California to the World and Back: Shared Energy Solutions for a Changing Climate
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California is advancing rapidly toward a clean, reliable, and affordable energy future while confronting the same pressures facing energy regulators around the world, from intensifying heat waves and wildfires to floods and storms, as well as the new load growth driven by transportation electrification and the emerging artificial intelligence economy. Energy systems everywhere are being tested at the same time jurisdictions are working to decarbonize.
As the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) works to meet California’s ambitious energy transition goals, we are both leading and learning, engaging with global peers who are navigating these same affordability, climate, reliability, and demand challenges in their own jurisdictions.
Through memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and direct engagement with international delegations, the CPUC participates in two-way exchanges on practical strategies. These conversations help California strengthen its grid reliability, accelerate clean energy deployment, and protect ratepayers, while also enabling California to share its experience with partners who are facing similar pressures.
Here’s a look at some of the critical discussions we held with international delegations in 2025.
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Australia: The CPUC welcomed a delegation from Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water to discuss strategies to support investment in affordable renewable generation and storage capacity.
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China: The CPUC hosted a delegation from China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment to exchange innovative strategies for scaling infrastructure to support vehicle electrification and reduce emissions from the transportation sector.
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Denmark: Throughout the year, CPUC staff, along with partners at the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB),collaborated with the Danish Energy Agency to exchange solutions to some of the fastest-emerging challenges for our energy systems, including offshore wind, building decarbonization, demand flexibility, and how data centers can evolve from grid stressors to partners in affordable decarbonization.
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India: The CPUC held a roundtable discussion with a delegation from India to explore battery storage strategies from manufacturing to procurement to deployment.
Across each of these engagements, and many others, a common reality was made clear: jurisdictions around the world are balancing the same imperatives—decarbonization, reliability, resilience, and affordability—under growing climate-driven stress on energy systems.
Through these engagements, the CPUC and its sister agencies strengthen the global response to climate change while also bringing proven, real-world solutions back to California.
The CPUC’s Senior Advisor on Intergovernmental Affairs, Drew Hodel, reflected on the lessons exchanged with global peers in 2025. "A major focus for the CPUC last year was ratepayer affordability,” he said. “And what stood out in our conversations with global partners was how similar their challenges are to ours, from climate-driven grid stress to rising costs.”
Beyond Delegations
In addition to bilateral engagements, the CPUC participated in the International Regulatory Futures Forum in May 2025 in San Francisco, joining regulators from Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to discuss pressing topics such as investing in climate resilience and optimizing electricity systems to minimize costs for utility customers.
And later in the year, the CPUC also joined a California delegation led by Governor Newsom to COP30, the United Nations’ annual global climate conference, bringing the experience of the world’s fourth-largest economy to the global stage. At a pivotal moment for international climate action, the CPUC continued California’s engagement with energy and climate leaders from around the world, sharing concrete regulatory lessons and real-world results from California’s clean energy transition.
Sharing California’s Story
Sharing information with leaders around the world allows CPUC staff to collaborate in best practices and share the stories of California’s great successes, including:
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Since 2000 we’ve cut greenhouse gas emissions 21 percent while our economy has grown 81 percent.
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In the electric sector alone, we have reduced emissions by more than 40 percent, as supported by nearly 17,000 megawatts of battery storage and three consecutive years of record renewable buildout.
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California’s grid has run on 100 percent clean power for an average of nearly 6 hours per day in 2025,marking a 750 percent increase in clean-energy days since 2022
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If California were a country, it would rank 4th in EV sales behind China, the U.S., and Germany.
CPUC staff with a delegation from Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water.
CPUC staff with a delegation from China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
By Liza Martin, Public Information Officer