The City has set aside discretionary funds (up to $3,000) to disburse to community-based organizations that can help gather feedback on the CAAP draft measures and actions using materials developed by the City including a flyer, comment card, a slide deck and a link to an online survey. Learn more here.
Apply by 5pm on Friday May 3, 2024.
Read MoreUSC Sea Grant released a synthesis report on the People on the Move in a Changing Climate (PEMOCC) Southwest Workshop that took place in Fall 2022. This report summarizes expert panels and outlines a list of needs identified in the workshop—divided by research, policy, communication, and coalition building—that can be used as a tool to guide future research, funding, partnerships, and policy-making in the realm of climate-induced human mobility. Read the report and learn more about this project here.
USC Sea Grant recently hosted three workshops on the legal dimensions of managed retreats in California with Robin Craig, Ph.D., J.D. (USC Gould School of Law). The workshops were based on the legal research compiled for “A Community Guidebook to Coastal Adaptation Legal Issues in California,” which offers insights into primary agencies, laws, and adaptation options for coastal communities.
With funding from the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) Regional Resilience Grant Program, LARC, along with its partners the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, Rising Communities, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, will initiate a project aiming to combat extreme heat through a comprehensive Heat Ambassador initiative. The focus will be on educating and protecting heat-vulnerable communities. Learn more about LARC’s existing extreme heat campaign.
The City of Long Beach Sustainable City Commission met on August 24, 2023 to hear a presentation from City staff related to "Extreme Heat, Air Quality, and the Climate Action Plan." The presentation addressed the following topics:
Social Determinants of Health
Extreme Heat and Air Quality Background
City Projects, Programs, and Plans
Climate Action Plan Extreme Heat and Air Quality Actions
Read more about the presentation from the Long Beach Post.
July 2023 marks two years since the City of Paramount adopted its Climate Action Plan (CAP), and there is much progress to celebrate. The City takes pride in showcasing the diverse accomplishments attained in the last year toward enhancing its environmental sustainability.
Finalizing the Urban Forest Management Plan, which will help the City continue to grow and manage its urban forest and maintain its status as a Tree City USA.
Engaged an experienced consultant to conduct a comprehensive energy assessment that will produce a variety of energy-savings projects.
Change to the 100% Green Power energy tier for all City facilities.
Pending change in the community tier from the 36% Lean Power to 50% Clean Power, which will go into effect in fall 2023.
Continuing to increase the City’s fleet with zero emissions, 100% electric vehicles as part of the vehicle replacement program.
Continuing to replace existing lighting at City facilities with LEDs.
Continuing to replace the City’s small power tools with zero emissions, 100% electric equipment.
As the third year of the CAP’s implementation is underway, Paramount looks forward to implementing its various strategies and creating a more sustainable community for residents. To learn more about the CAP, visit https://paramountenvironment.org/cap/.
The City of West Hollywood continues to implement its people-centered 2021 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), which outlines the City’s intended path to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate while centering equity and quality-of-life outcomes for the West Hollywood community.
The City is excited to launch a public dashboard to monitor progress under the CAAP toward achieving carbon neutrality. To learn more about the City’s ongoing sustainability programs and initiatives as well as information and resources, visit WeHo Climate Action & Sustainability.
The Santa Monica City Council adopted the next version of the Sustainable City Plan (SCP) on March 15, 2023. The Sustainable City Plan guides the work and plans to achieve water self-sufficiency, zero waste, and carbon neutrality, as well as economic vitality and social equity. The latest edition of the Sustainable City Plan includes 12 guiding principles and 147 performance indicators with updated targets for 2030.
Recent Sustainability Indicators include:
As of 2020, Santa Monica has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 60% below 1990-levels.
As of 2022, 94% of residents and businesses are receiving renewable energy through the Clean Power Alliance.
In Fiscal Year 2021/22, the community reduced their waste generation to 3.5 pounds per capita per day.
In 2021, Santa Monica increased solar capacity to 8.8 megawatts.
In Fiscal Year 2021/22, the Santa Monica Farmers Market generated $22.1 million in gross sales.
The updated SCP incorporates current best practices established in the LEED for Cities certification, as well as review of peer cities. The City will continue to measure the performance of the indicators identified in the SCP. The Sustainable City Plan performance dashboard is available at santamonica.gov/sustainable-city-plan. Additional related sustainability efforts include the relaunch of the Santa Monica DIY Sustainability Toolkit, available from the public libraries; the Zero Emission Building Code, which went into effect on January 1, 2023; and an Existing Building Electrification Roadmap that was published in February 2023 to identify possible strategies to reduce carbon emissions and improve indoor air quality in existing buildings.
For more information, see the resources below:
Link to the Sustainable City Plan Update Staff Report
Link to the Council Presentation
Link to Sustainable City Plan Dashboard
Metro has launched a 10-year Sustainability Strategic Plan, Moving Beyond Sustainability (MBS), demonstrating its dedication to sustainability and resilience. The plan outlines a comprehensive strategy through 2030 and beyond, focusing on producing greener Metro facilities, minimizing air pollution and construction waste, and reducing smog and greenhouse gases across L.A. County.
Their goals for this plan include:
Transitioning from compressed natural buses to a 100% electric bus fleet by 2030.
Tripling Metro’s on-site renewable energy generation by 2030, reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by 79 percent and reducing total nitrogen oxide emissions by 54 percent.
Reducing potable water use by 22% compared to the Business as Usual scenario.
Achieving a 50% landfill diversion rate for operational waste.
Achieving LEED Silver certification for all new facilities over 10,000 square feet
To learn more about this ten-year plan, please visit Metro's website
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) produces a collection of maps that serve as a tool to measure and track sustainability progress in the region across 12 categories and 29 sustainability indicators. Learn about the Green Region Initiative (GRI) and access all 12 maps here. Or directly access the Climate Action map and the Climate Adaptation Planning map.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the rapid evolution of green building practices and integrating those approaches into affordable housing may be more critical than ever. This book argues that the best way to meet health and climate challenges is by providing society’s most vulnerable people with housing stability while reducing the environmental, health and climate impacts of constructing and operating buildings.
This is a fully revised edition of a book first published in 2007 by Walker Wells, Principal with Raimi+Associates, Lecturer at UCLA Luskin, and LARC Leadership Council Member. You can see the full Luskin blog post here and buy the book here
Researchers from University of California Davis, California Department of Water Resources, RAND Corporation (a LARC member), and the California Strategic Growth Council have published a new paper on the interactions between researchers and practitioners can lead to the increased use of climate science in decisionmaking. This study thus examines the perspectives and experiences of researchers regarding practitioner engagement, drawing from an original survey of California's climate research community (N= 991) and supplemental interviews. Given a history of support for climate research and climate change adaptation, analysis of the California case is useful as a means of characterizing the relationship between climate research and practitioner engagement.
Highlights from findings
Most climate change researchers in California want to increase their engagement with practitioners, and the more researchers focus on climate change, the more they want to engage practitioners.
The frequency of engagement with practitioners varies significantly across academic fields.
The most highly engaged disciplines are also the most peripheral disciplines in climate science.
Building capacity within research organizations and integrating stakeholder engagement in funding criteria and professional development can help foster relationship-building between scientists and decision-makers.
Analysis suggests that the social structure of climate research warrants further examination of the ways that climate researchers relate to practitioners at present.
Access further information on this document at Global Environmental Change
In January 2020, Climate Resolve released the report “Ready for Tomorrow? A Snapshot of Climate Preparedness Planning in Southern California,” which describes the current status of climate preparedness planning. The report is complemented by a searchable Matrix that details the status of climate preparedness planning by more than 200 municipalities.
In 2017, LARC produced the L.A. CAP Map. If you are interested in producing an updated L.A. CAP Map based on Climate Resolve’s data, please contact us.
Global Green USA creates transformative model projects and advances new policies that build sustainable and resilient communities and affordable housing.
They release publicly accessible reports on the research and projects that they perform, all of which are available on their website. Here are a few of their most recent ones:
Sustainable Neighborhood Assessments Report
2017 QAP Analysis: Green Building Criteria in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Programs
Re-Inventing the Garbage Truck
Piloting Food Scrap Diversion in Multi-Family Buildings
On March 1st, 2017, our Quarterly Member meeting had a presentation from Cole Roberts and Robert Dickinson, representing Arup and Argos Analytics respectively, on the WeatherSuite™ Toolkit. Here is a link to summary information for 259 global cities for the WeatherShift™ weather file tool.
This link goes to the Integrated Environmental Solutions website, where 3 file sets of the WeatherShift weather files can be purchased!
Follow these links to find out more about Arup and Argos Analytics!
Established in 2007, the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC) is a network of local governments, regional agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses, utilities, and academics working together to advance climate mitigation and adaptation efforts in the Los Angeles region.
Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC)
La Kretz Hall, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90095
