CLIMATE
OVERVIEW
Los Angeles is on the frontlines of the climate crisis. The consequences of a fire-prone climate, rising heat, drought, and increasing levels of pollutants are increasingly tactile. Impacted by seasonal dryness and occasional Santa Ana wind events, our district suffers from dry vegetation and low humidity levels which can accelerate fires. Moreover, our geography, bounded by the Santa Monica Mountains and coastal canyons can make urban areas harder to access for maintenance and emergency response.
The combination of our climate, geography, land use puts lives at risk, with low-income renters, seniors, children, and frontline communities hit hardest. Families swelter in unsafe apartments, transit riders wait in the sun without shelter, and dangerous fossil fuel sites threaten our safety.
Angelenos deserve better. We need shade, cooling, and safe housing. We need clean air, carbon-free power, and protections that put people before polluters. We need good green jobs, thriving wetlands, creeks, and mountains, and water systems built for resilience.Now more than ever, it is imperative we build a Los Angeles that is responsive to present-state and prepared for the future.
INVEST IN CLIMATE-RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE
Research following the Palisades and Altadena fires in 2025 shows that LA’s climate today is 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than it was in preindustrial times, and by the late century average maximum temperatures in Los Angeles are expected to further increase by 2.8–4.4 degrees Celsius. Moreover, the number of extreme hot days and length of the dry season our city experiences will also elongate. The increase in temperature will have outsized effects on our wildfire-risk, energy demand, and public health. It’s important to pursue science-backed policies that help us get ahead of the conditions we are anticipating.
Expand shade and shelter at transit stops:
Many transit high-ridership stops lack protection, while outdated contracts and permitting barriers slow progress. I will work on climate-responsive designs that maximize shade, safety, and resilience. By treating shelters as essential public health infrastructure, the city can quickly scale low-cost, effective solutions to ensure equity and comfort for all riders.
Expand and maintain urban tree canopy:
I will implement year-round care and regenerative maintenance for existing trees while strategically planting large-canopy, drought-resistant, and climate-appropriate species. Closing the shade equity gap can reduce ER visits during extreme heat by up to 66%, lower mortality risks in vulnerable communities, and make neighborhoods cooler, healthier, and more livable.
Expand cooling centers:
To protect residents, especially seniors, children, unhoused neighbors, and outdoor workers, I will expand the number and distribution of cooling centers, extend hours (including 24-hour operations during heat waves), ensure locations are near transit, and provide multilingual outreach.
Guarantee cooling as a tenant’s right:
I will require landlords to maintain safe indoor temperatures, provide financial support for efficient retrofits, and establish statewide protections so no tenant is left vulnerable during heat waves. Extreme heat puts renters, especially low-income families in older buildings, at serious risk, yet landlords are not required to provide cooling. Over half of renters report unsafe indoor heat, and 22% have no A/C at all.
ENSURE ACCESS TO CLEAN, RELIABLE, AND AFFORDABLE ENERGY FOR ALL RESIDENTS
With the climate crisis causing increasing temperatures, residential electricity demand in Los Angeles could increase by 41–87% by 2060. At the same time, climate impacts do not only increase energy demand, they also diminish the performance of our power infrastructure. For instance, turbines can become up to 25% less efficient in high temperatures. In turn, utilities have to run more fossil fuel generation, which only further increases air pollution and carbon emissions. We do not want our grid to rely on fossil fuels, and trap us in a cycle where increased energy demand is met with increased fossil fuel generation. Therefore, it’s essential we invest in clean infrastructure and replace systems that burn fossil fuels directly (like gas cars, gas stoves, or gas water heaters) with systems that run on electricity (like electric vehicles, induction stoves, and heat pumps), and ensure that electrification deliver the biggest climate benefit by generating power from clean sources (solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and battery storage). In CD 11 there are concrete steps we can take to transition away from fossil fuel infrastructure and strengthen electrification standards.
Close the unnecessary and dangerous Playa del Rey gas storage facility:
I will renew the City Council’s demand for a state-led feasibility study and a firm closure timeline for one of California’s highest-risk gas storage sites. With over half a million residents, schools, businesses, and even LAX within a 5-mile radius, CD11 deserves action to protect community health and safety from this aging, dangerous, and unnecessary facility.
Reevaluate the Scattergood modernization project:
I will push LADWP to reevaluate its plans to spend $800 million on combustion-based retrofits at Scattergood. While sounding like an upgrade, retrofitting allows the plant to continue running on combustion-based technology which risks extending pollution and raising costs for ratepayers. The risk to rate payers will go up further with recent federal funding cuts. Moreover, the governmentally-mandated Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Scattergood project was insufficient as it failed to fully evaluate cleaner, cost-effective alternatives and demonstrated that the project does not meet the Equity Principles set by environmental justice organizations.
Oil & gas setbacks:
I will support continued efforts to advance an oil phaseout ordinance, establish strong health-protective setbacks from homes, schools, and hospitals, and ensure a timely phaseout of existing wells. I will prioritize site remediation and just transition planning that supports impacted workers and frontline communities, guaranteeing health, climate, and equity are placed above fossil fuel profits.
Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act:
I will support passage of the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act to hold oil giants financially responsible for the escalating costs of climate disasters. By charging fees on the corporations most responsible for historic emissions, this policy would fund wildfire recovery, resilience hubs, and community protections, ensuring neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades and Altadena are not left to shoulder the burden of rebuilding, fire prevention, and climate adaptation alone.
Hold firm to LA100 carbon-free power by 2035:
Achieving 100% carbon-free power by 2035 means investing in proven solutions, expanding battery and long-duration storage, upgrading transmission, and scaling distributed energy resources like rooftop solar, demand response, and virtual power plants. Paired with efficiency and electrification of buildings and transportation, these strategies strengthen grid reliability, lower costs, clean the air, and ensure LA100 delivers equity and resilience.
Incentivize electrification standards:
I will incentivize electrification for new construction, especially in high-risk fire zones like the Pacific Palisades where building with electrification would be safer, healthier, more affordable, and faster. Transitioning away from gas stoves and appliances lowers household air pollution, improves respiratory health, and reduces wildfire and safety risks.
Make energy affordable for all:
We need solutions that put families first, keeping rates stable, protecting low-income households, and ensuring no one has to choose between power and basic needs. By expanding rebate programs for electrical appliance installation, Los Angeles can deliver reliable, carbon-free power that is affordable for everyone.
SUPPORT GREEN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
As we move closer to green solutions for our energy needs, we must ensure that we do not leave our workers behind. Workers, unions, and policy leaders are looking to implement a “Just Transition” in which fossil fuel workers receive support navigating the labor market transition and need for new jobs. Fortunately, the reassignment of fossil fuel workers to green jobs is feasible. Research shows that most fossil fuel workers in the US have skills that would effectively transfer to green jobs. In fact, fossil fuel workers’ skills are better matched to green occupations than to other exisitng industries. Therefore, there is an opportunity for us to model successful workforce development programs, and buttress them with robust legislation, to produce a comprehensive, coordinated strategy that benefits all.
Ensuring stable jobs for fossil fuel workers.
My approach will connect frontline communities and fossil fuel workers to employment in renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure, and environmental projects. Building on the Climate Emergency Mobilization Commission’s recommendations, this will rely on embedding local hire requirements, guaranteeing prevailing wages and full benefits to workers, and partnering with community colleges, vocational schools, and labor organizations to deliver upskilling, reskilling, and hands-on apprenticeship programs. For more information, please see the Economy for All brief.
Promote community environmental leadership:
I will support paid internships, volunteer programs, and educational partnerships that empower both youth and adults to take part in hands-on stewardship and ecological learning. From the Ballona Wetlands to the Santa Monica Mountains to Ballona Creek, these initiatives foster community connection, environmental leadership, and equitable access to nature across Los Angeles.
LAND STEWARDSHIP, ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION, AND PUBLIC ACCESS TO GREENSPACE
Los Angeles has some of the smallest share of greenspace compared to other major cities, a disparity that correlates with poor physical and mental health,a shorter life expectancy, and weaker community ties, amongst other disadvantages. Moreover, greenspace also functions as natural climate infrastructure, cooling neighborhoods, filtering air, and mitigating heat island effects. Therefore, it is imperative that we are responsible stewards of the greenspace we can access. Rather than repeating cycles of development that destroy habitat, our approach is grounded in respectful stewardship of land, which includes and emphasizes honoring the knowledge and leadership of Indigenous peoples, such as the Tongva, and collaborating with existing community networks, including the LAUSD, the Archdiocese, and nonprofits like the Westside Food Bank.
Protect and expand access to the Ballona Wetlands:
I will strengthen protections for one of LA’s last remaining wetlands by reducing polluted runoff, expanding native vegetation and wildlife habitat, ensuring meaningful Tribal consultation and consent, and safeguarding culturally significant lands.The wetlands are not just an important ecosystem but a community resource, supporting safe, wildlife-friendly public access, free field trip programs that connect local students, and green workforce development opportunities.
Reimagine Ballona Creek as an ecological resource:
I will support transforming Ballona Creek from a concrete flood channel into a healthier corridor by reducing polluted runoff, adding native landscaping, and supporting community projects like art, cleanups, and safe bike path access. Coordinated investment across agencies can balance flood control with clean water, habitat, and recreation, creating a cleaner creek with more shade, biodiversity, and public space for nearby communities.
Protect Santa Monica Bay from political rollbacks:
The Bay Foundation and Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, where CD11’s current councilmember has a voting seat, deleted “climate change,” “environmental justice,” and “DEI” from their draft work plan despite no EPA mandate, self-censorship that caves to Trump’s demands and weakens community protections. I will push the Governing Board to reverse this and vote to reaffirm these commitments and embed them in its new strategic plan.
Expand urban farms and community gardens:
I will protect sites like Ocean View Farms (500+ organic plots and composting program), Emerson Avenue Community Garden (100+ plots, orchards, and youth programs), and The Learning Garden at Venice High School (education in seed saving and traditional plant knowledge), while also converting underutilized spaces at public libraries into community farms where residents can grow and sell vegetables, fruits, and herbs.Similar programs have been implemented in cities like Detroit, where the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network operates urban farms that provide fresh produce to underserved communities. In New York City, the Brooklyn Grange operates the world’s largest rooftop soil farms, producing over 50,000 pounds of organically grown vegetables annually. These models demonstrate the potential for urban farming to transform communities and reduce reliance on industrial agriculture in Los Angeles.
Embed Indigenous land stewardship and practices:
I will build on emerging models of Indigenous land stewardship in California by establishing formal co-stewardship agreements with Tongva communities and other tribes. This would include co-managing all of the above-named restoration projects such that the Indigenous community are true partners in shaping the work and not merely consultants, integrating indigenous traditional ecological knowledge into land and water management practices, and compensating our Indigenous experts and partners for their leadership
NURTURE A RESILIENT WATER FUTURE
Responsible stewardship of land is inseparable from a climate-resilient approach towards water managment. Greenspaces, such as parks, schoolyards, and other public spaces, can not only provide recreation and community, but also serve as critical components of a climate-resilient water system whereby we leverage our urban landscape to capture, clean, recycle, and equitably distribute water.
Advance stormwater capture as a local water supply:
By expanding nature-based infrastructure, like bioswales, rain gardens, permeable pavement, and green schoolyards, and strengthening the City’s Stormwater Capture Rebate Program to include permeable driveways and other retrofits, I will help our city prepare for a changing climate while reducing polluted runoff, recharging groundwater, and turning billions of gallons of lost water into a resilient local supply. Threats of extreme drought make it essential for Los Angeles to treat stormwater not as waste but as a resource.
Ensure Measure W delivers equity, multi-benefits, and accountability:
I will strengthen the Safe Clean Water Program (Measure W) by prioritizing multi-benefit projects that capture and clean stormwater while providing shade, parks, cooling, and community health benefits, with funding and design centered on disadvantaged communities, and ensure dollars are spent effectively through strong oversight, clear performance metrics, and community engagement that empowers residents and community-based organizations to shape resilient neighborhood projects.
Strengthen reliability and advance recycling at Hyperion:
I will encourage our leader to invest in resilient treatment systems, improve real-time alerts, and direct any fines toward Supplemental Environmental Projects that benefit communities and ecosystems. At the same time, by accelerating the Pure Water LA initiative to recycle 100% of wastewater by 2035, with equity and transparency at the center, I will make Hyperion a cornerstone of the city’s climate-resilient water future.