On April 5, the LABC hosted over 1,500 government, business and environmental leaders in person and via livestream at the 13th Annual Sustainability Summit at Los Angeles’ Getty Center.
With California making a serious commitment to its clean energy future with the passage of SB 100, which set the state on a path to achieve 100% clean energy by 2045, the summit explored the question: “how do we get there?”
Panel discussions included a focus on building resiliency in the face of increasingly severe climate change related events, building net-zero buildings, incentivizing solar and solar storage, and prioritizing safe, clean and affordable water for all Californians.
Event highlights include:
- The first major public address from newly appointed Secretary of California’s Natural Resources Agency Wade Crowfoot. He spoke about the major opportunities, as well as the serious challenges, facing California, and the urgent need to address wildfire risk.
- Los Angeles County Chief Sustainability Officer Gary Gero unveiled the County’s much anticipated Sustainability Plan at the summit. The first of its kind, the plan offers a comprehensive look at the County’s path to sustainability while balancing the co-equal values of environment, equity, and economy.
- President of the LABC Mary Leslie reiterated the LABC’s request for LADWP to increase local solar goals to 1,500MW by 2025 along with a permanent and expanded Feed-in Tariff Program (FiT). Learn more about the LABC’s initiative here.
- Clean Power Alliance Executive Director Ted Bardacke said the locally operated electricity provider will be the first CCA to buy standalone energy stora The first storage site will be in Moorpark, which was impacted by the Woolsey fire, as part of a strategy to prioritize backup power to high fire-risk areas.
- In his keynote, Mayor Eric Garcetti shared his vision for a future L.A. where zero waste is sent to landfills, every building is emissions-free, and there’s 100% wastewater recycling and 100% zero-carbon electricity. He told policymakers to: “Go big. Don’t worry about the naysayers and keep pushing forward…whatever seems like radical ideas one year, a year or two later seems timid.”
- During a panel on creating climate resilient economies, Lynn Jurich, CEO of residential solar company Sunrun, spoke for the first time publicly about a white paper the company released in conjunction with the summit that analyzed the possibility of creating a “virtual” power plant based on the expansion of residential solar panels and batteries.
- Caroline Choi, Edison International’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, presented her keynote focusing on adjusting to “the new abnormal” outlining plans to mitigate fire risks.
A recording of the full summit is available here.
