A report released today by UCLA—in partnership with LADWP—identifies four areas critical to strengthening water and power infrastructure to reduce risks and improve reliability as climate-related disasters intensify. It details important findings from an intensive June 9 workshop—commissioned by LADWP and developed, organized and hosted by UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation with programmatic and logistical support from the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLAGC)—that brought together key decision-makers to talk frankly and collaboratively to advance broader industry knowledge and capacity.

The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles made clear an issue that has been brewing for years: as wildfires become more urban in nature, what is the role of urban water systems in their prevention, response and recovery? How should water systems prepare for 21st century wildfire events? What policy changes and infrastructure investments are needed to increase resilience? 

Read about what the experts had to say about these questions at the first of four workshops hosted through a water supply + wildfire research and policy coordination network, organized by the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, UC ANR's California Institute for Water Resources, and Arizona State University to bring together experts to help answer these questions and more.

Global warming has advanced wildfire season from one to almost seven weeks earlier, a new UCLA study shows.

More than 40 scholars contributed their expertise to the independent commission, which issued its final recommendations today. 

The effort was led by the Luskin Center of Innovation, in partnership with the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and with support from the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge. Read more.

UCLA’s Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative (CWRI) Launches New Research and Policy Working Group on Urban Water Supply-Wildfire Dynamics, led by UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) in partnership with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources’ (UCANR) California Institute for Water Resources

A new study from UCLA experts breaks down the misconceptions around the limitations vegetation management could have played in mitigating the destructiveness of the January 2025 LA fires. 

Director of UCLA's California Center for Sustainable Communities Stephanie Pincetl writes, "It is time to unleash creative imagination about how we create a livable future for the 10 million people in LA county." 

Read more about her thoughts on reimagining how we build and why.

UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) and UCLA's Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLAGC) presents a webinar called: "Expert Insights on the Causes, Impacts and Aftermath of the L.A. Wildfires."

Featuring an informative panel of wildfire, water quality, air quality and climate science faculty experts: 

• Alex Hall, a climate science expert and faculty director of UCLA's Sustainable LA Grand Challenge
• Greg Pierce, a water quality expert and senior director of UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
• Yifang Zhu, an air quality expert, associate director of UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability's Center for Clean Air, and professor of Environmental Health Sciences with UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
• Moderated by: Nurit Katz, UCLA Chief Sustainability Officer

Detailed gathering of site-specific data and analysis using slope stability models to identify and treat affected critical slopes—where a failure could result in a threat to communities, transportation systems, or the environment—will be essential to reduce the risk of a catastrophic event and help with the recovery efforts. 

Read about UCLA researchers' efforts.

UCLA researchers breakdown the role climate change played in the January 2025 LA fires.