Supporting a Resilient and Sustainable Rebuild:

Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire-Safe Recovery

The Commission calls for the creation of two new governance structures—Resilient Rebuilding Authority and Los Angeles County Fire Control District—and the recommendations and final action plans also define key actions to advance fire-resistant and resilient building standards, enhance insurability, increase distributed energy and water systems, and more. 

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In the news

Civic and business leaders call for new local authority to oversee post-fire rebuilding

After the fires: Initial recommendations put forth by Blue Ribbon Commission for climate-resilient rebuild

After the fires, can it be cheaper to rebuild without gas?

To support a more resilient and sustainable recovery from the 2025 LA County Wildfires, Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath convened an independent Commission made up of leading experts from diverse professional backgrounds who are volunteering their time to develop recommendations for Los Angeles County’s rebuilding effort. The recommendations are designed for broad applicability across LA County, ensuring a thoughtful, cohesive, and region-wide approach to rebuilding that prioritizes resiliency to natural hazards.

The Commission is developing recommendations to:

  • Build back homes, businesses, and infrastructure to be more resilient to fires and other climate shocks;
  • Retrofit existing homes, businesses, and infrastructure in at-risk communities, and
  • Catalyze regionwide climate resiliency measures and investments.

The University of California, Los Angeles, is supporting the Commission as a research partner, compiling a diverse set of experts from across the UCLA campus and leading research institutions across the Los Angeles region.UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge and the Luskin Center for Innovation are providing research and administrative support to the Commission, drafting recommendations, and leading community engagement.

In May 2025, the Commission shared initial recommendations and draft action plans — to inform and seed policy and budget deliberations in real time. From that initial draft, the Commission engaged with Palisades and Altadena community members, policymakers, and key stakeholders to solicit feedback, questions, and ideas to help refine the final recommendations.

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Commission Members

Matt Peterson—Chair
CEO, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator; Former Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Los Angeles

 

Fran Pavley—Vice Chair
State Senator (Ret.), Environmental Policy Director, USC Schwarzenegger Center

 

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

Fran Pavley—State Senator (Ret.), Environmental Policy Director, USC Schwarzenegger Center

Jonathan Parfrey—CEO, Climate Resolve

Matt Petersen—CEO, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator; Former Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Los Angeles

Tracy Quinn—CEO, Heal the Bay

Laurie Schoeman—Chief Impact Officer, Partners for the Common Good; Former White House Senior Housing Advisor

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

Commission members at two-day kick-off retreat in late February 2025.

Community Engagement

The recommendations are urgently needed to support fire-impacted homeowners and businesses, but the lessons learned will be applicable to many at-risk communities across LA County. The Commission is working with UCLA to develop a community engagement process that allows it to incorporate:

Priorities and preferences from Palisades and Eaton Fire impacted communities.

Opportunities for enhancing resilience cost-effectively in similarly at-risk communities.

Innovative ideas proposed by businesses, residents, and researchers and lessons from other communities impacted by wildfires and other climate disasters.

Feedback from other community-driven processes being developed to support fire recovery.

Next Steps and Immediate Deliverables

In June, the Commission will deliver concrete recommendations for policymakers and impacted community members on strategies to advance sustainable and resilient rebuilding. By October, the Commission will deliver further recommendations to address resilient measures for at-risk communities, including critical infrastructure investments, across LA County. Research questions will include the following themes:

  • Resiliency measures and construction practices (e.g. materials, defensible space, plant palette) that are most impactful to keeping buildings and critical infrastructure safe.
  • Strategies to reduce cost and fast-track resilient rebuilds of homes and businesses.
  • Opportunities to reduce regulatory barriers to implementing resiliency measures.
  • Urban design, brush management, and landscape considerations to protect properties and infrastructure.
  • Water, power, and communications infrastructure hardening, resiliency, and redundancy.
  • Financing strategies to support private and public reconstruction goals, including support for legacy homeownership, combatting land speculation, and insurance coverage.
  • Approaches to rebuilding that elevate community priorities and advance economic, environmental, and social equity.
  • Effective retrofit measures to existing structures for enhanced resiliency.

UCLA Research

UCLA is supporting the Commission with research, convenings, public engagement, and vetted recommendations. Convened by
Chancellor Julio Frenk and led by climate change adaptation policy expert and Luskin Center for Innovation Faculty Director
Megan Mullin. Institute for the Environment and Sustainability’s Director Alex Hall, a leading atmospheric science and wildfire
expert, is supporting the effort with his staff at the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge. Deputy Director for the Emmett Institute on
Climate Change and the Environment Julia Stein rounds out UCLA’s leadership team supporting the Commission. The multi-
disciplinary team will leverage expertise from world-class UCLA faculty from: