California is spending billions to shore up its defenses against heat, flash floods, rising seas and other effects of climate change. But to do this, it is, ironically, working with the very institutions that are financing the fossil fuel activity causing the crisis.
To sell bonds that finance various initiatives, including massive projects that help the state deal with effects of the climate crisis, California relies on banks to find investors willing to purchase them. Bonds are like loans that the state pays back to investors over time, plus interest. Banks that help sell the bonds are "underwriters" for the bonds.
