On February 13, 2025 Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath and UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk announced the independent Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery, to support a more resilient and sustainable recovery from the devastating 2025 LA wildfires.
UCLA will provide world-class research expertise and programmatic support to the Commission and coordinate with community-engaged processes underway to help the Commission develop a set of policy recommendations to promote a safe, resilient recovery for Los Angeles.
The Commission will provide expert-driven recommendations focused on:
• Fire-safe reconstruction: Implementing fire-resistant materials, defensible space strategies, and climate-smart building standards.
• Resilient infrastructure: Undergrounding utilities, expanding water storage and conveyance, and hardening power grids.
• Faster rebuilding: Identifying resilient home designs and systems that could be pre-approved to expedite reconstruction and financial incentives to support rebuilding.
• Equitable recovery: Reducing the risk of displacement, ensuring affordable insurance, and prioritizing support for vulnerable communities.
The Commission:
The Commission is chaired by Matt Petersen, CEO of the Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator. Former State Senator Fran Pavley, Environmental Policy Director of USC's Schwarzenegger Institute, serves as vice-chair. The Commission includes more than a dozen additional volunteer community members and technical experts.
- Marty Adams: General Manager (Ret.), Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
- Marissa Aho: Former Chief Resilience, Officer for Los Angeles and Houston; Director Executive Climate Office King County, WA.
- Ted Bardacke: CEO, Clean Power Alliance
- Cecilia V. Estolano: CEO and Founder, Estolano Advisors
- Ron Frierson: Director of Economic Development, Amazon; Board Chair, LA Economic Development Corporation
- Mark Gold: Former California Deputy Secretary for Oceans and Coastal Policy; Director for Water Scarcity Solutions, NRDC.
- Russell Goldsmith: Former Chairman, City National Bank; Chairman, Forest Management Company
- Laurie Johnson: Former Chief Catastrophe Response and Resiliency Officer, California Earthquake Authority
- Mary Leslie: President, Los Angeles Business Council
- Rudy Ortega: Tribal President, Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians
- Veronica Padilla: CEO, Pacoima Beautiful
- Jonathan Parfrey: CEO, Climate Resolve
- Tracy Quinn: CEO, Heal the Bay
- Laurie Schoeman: Chief Impact Officer, Partners for the Common Good
- Donna Shen Tripp: Partner, Craig Lawson & Co.
- Ben Stapleton: Executive Director, US Green Building Council, California
- David Wilson: City Manager, City of West Hollywood
- Roy Wright: CEO, Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety
The UCLA-led Research Team:
The UCLA team will be led by Megan Mullin, Director of the Luskin Center for Innovation opens a new window, in consultation with Julia Stein, Deputy Director for the Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment opens a new window and partnership with Alex Hall, Director of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLAGC), leveraging the SLAGC team to organize a coalition of researchers and experts to support the Commission by bringing objective insights and innovative options to the process.
UCLA will draw on a range of its experts, including:
- The Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment: Distinguished Counsel Mary Nichols
- Luskin School of Public Affairs: Dean Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Evelyn Blumenberg, Greg Pierce, Mike Lens, Paul Ong, Minjee Kim, Liz Koslov
- School of Architecture and Urban Design: Dana Cuff, Mohamed Sharif
- UCLA Extension Landscape Architecture Program: Stephanie Landregan
- Ziman Center for Real Estate: Stuart Gabriel
- UCLA Labor Center: Saba Waheed
- California Center for Sustainable Communities: Stephanie Pincetl
- Fielding School of Public Health: Wendy Slusser
- Anderson School of Management: William Yu, Zhiyun Li
UCLA will also leverage leading experts in engineering, environmental justice, and climate science from other institutions as advisors on this project, including Neil Fromer (CalTech), Manuel Pastor and Kelly Sanders (University of Southern California), Nicole Lambrou (Cal Poly Pomona), Andy Sinclair (Claremont McKenna), and Robert Lempert (RAND).
