The urgent challenge of climate change and the growth of new distributed energy resources has disrupted the electricity sector, creating space for new stakeholders and new visions. But these debates over the energy transition are playing out against a cost-of-living crisis in California. The soaring costs of our electric power system are compounding this broader cost-of-living strain and burdening a substantial number of low- and middle-income customers. So, how can policymakers work toward the state’s climate goals and prioritize equity?

The California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) seeks to incentivize the production and sale of alternative, lower-emissions transportation fuels to displace conventional fossil fuels. But there are some well-documented questions about the program’s incentives for industrial dairy operations. This report analyzes several commonly raised issues regarding California’s dairy digester policy. The report comes as the California Legislature declined to move on SB 709, a bill introduced last year to reform the role of dairy biogas in the LCFS.

Reducing methane emissions is a high priority for greenhouse gas mitigation. Several jurisdictions are starting to use methane remote sensing from aerial, satellite, and ground-based platforms and more are planning to do so soon. The trajectory and potential limitations of these advances are still emerging. Yet they are likely to have profound implications for methane control efforts, whether pursued through managerial, market, informational, regulatory, or other legal and policy channels. 

The movement of goods through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is a major source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the L.A. region. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has reported that the Ports are “the single largest fixed source of air pollution in Southern California.” And neighboring communities—predominantly low-income communities of color—bear the brunt of this pollution, suffering from smog and toxic air pollution from port equipment. 

The threat of flooding and erosion is increasing throughout the United States as a warming atmosphere makes precipitation events more extreme and contributes to sea level rise. This Pritzker Brief examines California’s existing real estate disclosure practices and suggests mechanisms to improve them to account for the accelerating risk of sea level rise, or SLR.

Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic Director Cara Horowitz and Shapiro Fellow Ruthie Lazenby submitted an amicus curiae letter in support of a petition to review the Court of Appeal’s decision in Los Angeles Waterkeeper v. State Water Resources Control Board. 

Staff and faculty at the UCLA Emmett Institute filed an amicus brief at the Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District in the case V Lions Farming, LLC, et al. v. County of Kern, et al.  

This report by Leadership Counsel and UCLA’s Environmental Law Clinic reveals the major role that land use policy continues to play in perpetuating the poor environmental conditions and health disparities that face low-income communities and communities of color.

On January 20, 2023, faculty at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit supporting the right of the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a long-held waiver to California to regulate vehicle emissions more stringently than the federal government.