Los Angeles Resilient Recovery
For seven months, from April to November 2025, Climate Resolve and Resilient Cities Catalyst conscientiously and equitably immersed themselves in the recovery landscape, learning from the full spectrum of those directly affected or involved in the response, rigorously investigating strategies that might aid the recovery from the Eaton and Palisades fires, and examining wide-ranging interventions that could contribute to reducing or eliminating impacts of future fire events in the Los Angeles area.
Six critical themes emerged from this process that can provide a framework for strategic investment that complements government action while filling gaps that government cannot address quickly or flexibly enough.
Community engagement and equity
Infrastructure and utilities
Housing and affordability
Building codes and fire safety
Permitting and approval processes
Emergency management
Communities are already rebuilding, and families are already returning to Altadena and the Pacific Palisades. The question is now whether recovery will deepen inequity, or whether the subsequent fire will reveal the same systemic failures. Strategic research-backed investment can help ensure that recovery serves all residents and that the lessons of January 2025 wildfires inform future adaptation to the climate reality California now faces.
