City Planning presents climate vulnerability assessment emphasizing equity after year-long community outreach

City Planning staff presented a Climate Vulnerability Assessment, completed in May 2025, that assesses how seven climate hazards intersect with social vulnerability across Los Angeles and compiles community-developed mitigation strategies for use by city departments and community partners.

The assessment—referred to in the meeting as the CBA and CVA—analyzes extreme heat, extreme precipitation, flooding, sea level rise, drought, wildfire and climate-related public health impacts. City planning staff said the analysis combines hazard datasets (including inputs from the city's Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and Cal Fire county data), projections from Cal‑Adapt, and the city’s Community Health and Equity Index. "The focus of this climate vulnerability assessment was really to ensure climate justice and that the areas of the city that are most vulnerable socially, and also exposed are prioritized moving forward in any future climate planning efforts," said Marie Cobian, City Planning.

Why it matters: staff said the CVA is intended to guide departmental budgeting, support grant applications led by community-based organizations, and inform future citywide adaptation planning such as a forthcoming climate adaptation and action plan. City planners presented a mitigation table that ties recommended strategies to lead departments, time frames (short, mid, long, ongoing), and existing programs.

Community engagement and partners: staff described a six-month community partners program that hosted 41 events and engaged more than 1,000 stakeholders. The outreach collected over 400 comments in English and over 400 comments in Spanish across six of the city's 35 community plan areas. Community partners named in the presentation included Promesa Boyle Heights, Rising Communities (Watts and Southeast Los Angeles), Pacoima Beautiful, Strength Based Community Change (Wilmington and Southeast Los Angeles), SCOPE LA (Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education, focused on South and Southeast Los Angeles), and the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians (valley and eastern portions of the city). Presenters also noted additional strategic partners and focus groups with unhoused service providers and outdoor workers.

Examples of community-suggested mitigation strategies include adding cooling centers in the city’s hottest neighborhoods, establishing localized wildfire zones that permit cultural burns and support biodiversity, expanding bioswales and street trees to improve stormwater resilience, larger stormwater basins and reservoirs, and economic support programs for displaced small-business owners and outdoor workers. Staff said the full mitigation table and appendices are available in English and Spanish; hazard overviews were also translated into additional languages and embedded in a public story map and web mapping tool.

Data limitations and follow-up: staff told commissioners the CVA used datasets compiled before early 2025 and therefore does not yet incorporate some recent incidents; they noted wildfire inputs came through the LHMP using county-level Cal Fire data. The LHMP itself is updated every five years, and staff said future CVA updates or the climate adaptation plan could refresh vulnerability analyses. City planning said the report will be presented to the City Planning Commission and transmitted to City Council for further implementation discussions.

Implementation and accountability: presenters said the mitigation table identifies lead departments where possible (for example, the Department of Water and Power for programs tied to backup power) but stressed that many recommendations will require cross-departmental collaboration, budget commitments, grant awards, or partnership with community-based organizations to implement. Staff suggested the mitigation table and a prospective citywide climate dashboard could increase transparency about which departments are leading which programs and help track progress.

Next steps: staff said the CVA report is publicly available on City Planning’s climate equity webpage and that they will present the CVA to the City Planning Commission and transmit it to City Council to prompt implementation conversations. They also encouraged community organizations to use the CVA materials to support grant applications with the city as a fiscal partner.