City of Los Angeles – Kirsten Holland – 2018

Goals

As a leader in climate action and sustainability planning, the City of Los Angeles has committed to the ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. To drive that goal, the City is working with the international non-profit organization C40 Cities, on an ambitious update to their Sustainable City pLAn, which will ensure compatibility with the Paris Climate Agreement. The City brought EDF Climate Corps fellow, Kirsten Holland, on board to support departmental and stakeholder engagement efforts in the climate action planning process.

Solutions

Holland began by compiling and analyzing over 150 new sustainability initiatives submitted by City departments. She worked with City officials including the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability to identify high-level targets and map the appropriate new initiatives onto those targets to determine which actions would drive the city to meet its goals. She also assisted in creating a strategy for engagement of key community stakeholders and soliciting their input and feedback on the updated Sustainable City pLAn.

Potential Impact

Holland’s analysis of the initiatives and the refined structure she created will ultimately drive quantifiable action towards meeting the new sustainability and GHG emission reduction targets which are included in the updated Sustainable City pLAn.