The Los Angeles City Council has passed a motion setting the ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality, without offsets, by 2030, a move supported by the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLA GC) as it continues to leverage UCLA research to push public policy forward in urban sustainability. 

Kian Goh, assistant professor of urban planning, was recently named the new associate faculty director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy. With a global perspective and expertise in community responses to environmental problems, Goh will be able to promote the institute’s efforts to pair critical thought with social activism in order to combat inequalities. 

UCLA’s Daniel Swain co-authored a new study published in Communications Earth & Environment which addresses questions related to why climate-related increases in extreme precipitation have not been reflected in an increase in annual floods. 

The COVID-19 pandemic changed commuting patterns across campus, with the number of daily commuters coming to UCLA dropping from 67,000 in 2019 to a little over 19,000 in 2020. During this time, UCLA Transportation took full advantage of opportunities to learn and change practices to make commuting and transportation more sustainable. 

The Noble Family Innovation Fund fuels high-risk, high-reward interdisciplinary investigations with a philanthropic commitment to the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. Totaling $10 million over three years, this fund supports basic and translational research involving nanoscale, billionths of a meter, interactions.

The Klamath River Basin, near California’s northern border, is home to the Yurok Tribe’s traditional food systems. With a rich variety of nutritional and cultural resources, expanding access to this area will support the community and offset the food desert. In the spring 2021, three UCLA law students contributed to longstanding Yurok efforts to increase access to these lands. 

The California Current supports a mega-ecosystem in the Pacific Ocean. Beyond ecological benefits, this habitat is the basis for $56 billion in annual economic output and over 675,000 jobs. A recent study published in Molecular Ecology Resources, led by UCLA researchers, led to the creation of massive genetic library and made use of a more efficient identification method.

A new study led by UCLA’s R. Jisung Park, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, shows that hot weather significantly increases the risk of both outdoor and indoor workplace accidents and injuries. It is estimated that high temperatures already cause about 15,000 injuries per year in California, and this number is set to increase as climate change raises average high temperatures.

Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Director Eric Hoek led a team which recently published two books focusing on water management. The first, Sustainable Desalination and Water Reuse addresses reverse osmosis and the second, Oil & Gas Produced Water Management, focuses on the gas & oil industry.