Los Angeles is the second largest city in the US by population, home to almost four million residents. The city’s sprawling urban style also makes it one of the nation’s largest major cities in land area, covering 469 square miles.
Because Los Angeles is so big, it’s home to many microclimates. This means that climate change won’t affect every LA neighborhood the same way; as a rule, valleys and inland areas warm more than areas near the coast, and mountains get more rainfall. The waters off the shore of L.A. are estimated to rise 2 feet by 2050. If current climate policy continues, temperatures by the end of the century in Los Angeles will be 8.2°F warmer than in 2000. In 2020 the all-time hottest temperature in Los Angeles was recorded at 120 degrees, and by 2050 the hottest day of the year in LA will be 10 degrees warmer. This is a significant problem on its own — it doesn’t help that the city of Los Angeles is famous in environmental textbooks for being home to a phenomenon called the heat-island effect; this term refers to when the city’s concrete and pavement of buildings and streets absorbs heat, creating urban “heat islands.” This heat kills around 70 Angelenos every year, a number likely to rise as climate change further elevates city temperatures. Marta Segura, L.A.’s chief heat officer, explains that trees are one of the best solutions to counteract the urban heat island effect, which is more severe in low-income and communities of color. This strategy of nature-based adaptation includes replacing palm trees with native trees. Climate change will also make Los Angeles’s drought periods more severe, causing serious damage to the city’s people and ecosystems.
Though climate change may seem intractable at times, Los Angeles has certainly been stepping up to its multiple challenges of sea level rise, drought, wildfires, and heat. Los Angeles’ Mayor Eric Garcetti co-founded Climate Mayors in 2014, and established Chief Sustainability Officers for the city in 2015. In 2019, Garcetti released LA’s own Green New Deal, which sets aggressive goals for the city’s sustainable future, including complete carbon neutrality by 2050. The plan involves building a zero carbon electricity grid, with 80% of its energy from renewables by 2036, mandating that all new municipally owned buildings and major renovations be all-electric, recycling 100% of the city’s wastewater by 2035; sourcing 70% of the water locally, and planting and maintaining at least 90,000 trees (which will provide 61 million square feet of shade) severely decreasing the heat island effect. The City has already met or exceeded 90% of the plan’s near-term goals on time or early, and Angelenos have seen the results: LA became the number-one solar city in America, pioneered new transportation technologies, reduced the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 11% in a single year, and created more than 35,000 green jobs. More here.
In 2021 LADWP and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) collaborated to produce LA100, a comprehensive study and detailed plan for meeting the city’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. LA100 is groundbreaking in its detail and systems-analysis approach, the first ever of its kind, evaluating environmental and health impacts, economy and jobs, environmental justice, and pathways to renewables. Read the executive summary of the report here.
In 2023 Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Meija released a report called “This is Not Fine: Hottest Summer on Record Calls for a Reboot of LA’s Climate Plan.” Meija’s report acknowledges the progress and “promising start” of Garcetti’s plan, but also pushes for a reboot, claiming aspects of the plan are too broad and need more specific, publicly available tracking data. Meanwhile, a 2024 Los Angeles Times editorial catalogs some of the continuing delays and failures of Garcetti’s Green New Deal.
Current mayor Karen Bass has continued Garcetti’s legacy of sustainability, securing millions in funding for improved grid resilience and climate resilience, launching a turf-replacement program and a stormwater capture project, expanding electric vehicle charging networks, and more. However, in 2025, Karen Bass proposed eliminating the city’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, causing outcry from environmental organizations.
The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) and Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment (LASAN) are developing wastewater recycling programs to meet the city’s goal of 100% recycled wastewater by 2035. These projects - Pure Water Los Angeles and Operation NEXT - involve converting the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant into an advanced water purification facility, and developing infrastructure to store recycled water in aquifers. In May 2024, the Biden administration supplied $99.2 million in funding for Pure Water.
While the state of California pledged to ban all new gas cars by 2035, LA has set goals for 100% electric cars and zero-emission vehicles by 2050, an initiative which includes electrifying all the buses in LA by 2035. Los Angeles startup Charger Help, which aims to improve the reliability of EV charging stations and provide EV workforce training, is one example of the booming charging sector in California. LADWP also launched an electric vehicle rebate program.
The city already relies heavily on renewables, with 45% of energy consumption coming from solar, wind, and hydraulic power. LA is especially a leader in solar power with only 18% of the city’s electricity coming from coal. Natural gas is still Los Angeles’s main source for manufacturing, heating, and cooking.
As extreme heat becomes increasingly lethal in the region, Los Angeles developed its first ever comprehensive heat plan, the County Heat Action Plan (CHAP), in February 2026. The CHAP has three primary strategies: cooling outdoor spaces, creating heat-resilient indoor spaces, and expanding heat safety education and programs.
The fires themselves are releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases, intensifying the climate feedback loop and paving the way for even more frequent and ferocious disasters. This tragedy underscores the urgent need to confront wildfires not as isolated events but as interconnected symptoms of a larger climate emergency—one that demands immediate action, systemic change, and collective accountability.
CREDIT: SidePorch Consulting
