Ken Alex—former Sr. Policy Advisor for Governor Jerry Brown, OPR Director, and SGC Chair—highlights how Project Climate and other departments at UC Berkeley are significantly boosting research capacity of state and local policymakers to accelerate implementation of “absolutely realistic” and ambitious climate transition goals.
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VX News shares this exit interview with Janna Sidley, who since 2013 has served as POLA's General Counsel and is retiring after a 2.5-decade career in the LA City & US Attorneys' offices, in which she reflects on her accomplishments and tenure representing the nation's 2nd largest port.

Facing significant revenue shortfalls at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, California legislators in June 2020 paused the state's R&D and other business tax credits.

With generous surplus state funding included for climate resilience in Governor Newsom’s 2022-23 budget request, VX News caught up with Santa Monica Mountain’s Conservancy Executive Director, Joe Edmiston, to elaborate on how the influx of federal and state infrastructure investments will impact Southern California conservation and open space projects.

As early February brings heat alerts for communities in Southern California following an otherwise dry January, VX News shares the latest report by the Malibu Foundation assessing the social vulnerabilities and physical hazards of living in Southern California's Wildland Urban Interface.

With respected cleantech leader and California Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg announcing his campaign for LA County Supervisor, District 3, VX News shares the below announcement and impressive list of endorsements from a large and diverse coalition of local and regional leaders in support of Hertzberg's candidacy.

On Monday, January 10 Governor Newsom announced his $286 billion budget request for 2022-23. TPR excerpts the Governor’s Proposed Budget Summary, highlighting requested state spending for economic and workforce development, transportation, energy, water, climate, housing, and homelessness.

VX News excerpts a recent (December 8th) Westside Urban Forum panel, AI on LA’s Streets: Autonomous Vehicles are Arriving. The panel held in front of an an audience of city officials, planners, engineers, people in real estate, focused upon on the future of AVs in Los Angeles and the latter’s impact on design, land use, and city planning.

Los Angeles was selected in December by the US Economic Development Agency as a finalist in the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge.

As LA County competes for up to $100 million in federal funding to develop and scale blue/green growth innovations for Southern California's goods movement ecosystem, VX News excerpts this report, prepared by Invest Vancouver—a service of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, operating in support of the Metro Vancouver regional economy—on the opportunities and challenges for advancing the region's competetiveness in the global clean transportation sector.

VX News links this Coalition for Clean Air panel on its 50th anniversary, on California's Water, Clean Air, and Energy Nexus. Fmr. State Water Resources Control Board Chair, Felicia Marcus, fmr.

As the world’s largest direct air capture plant kicked off operations this September in Iceland, Southern California Gas Company recently announced plans to develop and test new direct air capture technology that both captures C02 and collects water for irrigation.

With climate change fueling increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters—whether from flooding, wildfire, or extreme heat events—2021 was another record-breaking and deadly year for climate disasters in the US.

VX News excerpts this offshore wind panel from the recent California Germany Bilateral Energy Conference, with remarks by California Energy Commissioner Karen Douglas; Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regional Director Doug Boren; Senior Climate Change Program Manager at the Ocean Protection Council, Justine Kimball, and EnBW’s Damian Bednarz

In November, leaders in new mobility convened at CoMotion LA 2021 for a series of discussions and presentations rethinking how people and goods move in and between cities and places around globe. In a panel moderated by Sarah Busch of the Green Hydrogen Coalition, Shell Hydrogen Commercial Manager Abhishek Banerjee and Underground Storage Market Leader at WSP USA Scyller Borglum discussed how green hydrogen can revolutionize the global supply chain.

VX News asks CEO of Canada's most successful clean tech accelerator, Jeannette Jackson, to both elaborate on the nonprofit’s ecosystem-wide approach to supporting Canada’s transition to a net-zero economy through innovation and share the competitive advantages that Vancouver BC offers cleantech, agtech, and industrial innovation companies.

Last month, the World Trade Center Los Angeles and the LA County Economic Development Corporation hosted its 6th annual Select LA Investment Summit to provide international and local business leaders with insights into the region’s investment ecosystem and opportunities for foreign direct investment (FDI). VX News shares these opening remarks by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and British Consul General in Los Angeles, Emily Cloke, who elaborate on the strategic advant

In the lead up to the 2028 Olympic Games, the Los Angeles region is positioned to become the US Capital for international sports entertainment.

With COP 26 underway, all eyes are on Glasgow to see how world leaders might update the 2015 Paris Climate agreement and undertake ambitious efforts to limit global warming and mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. Leading up to this summit, the Council on Foreign Relationships brought together three experts on climate: Stanford’s Arun Majumdar (pictured), CFR’s Alice C.

This week, global leaders convene in Glasgow, Scotland, for COP 26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Speaking at the inaugural Globe Summit, Former Obama Secretary of State John Kerry, who serves as the Biden Administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, discusses the role he plays going into COP26 and what he expects to see come out of the negotiations.