VX News is the editorial voice of the annual VerdeXchange Conference, featuring in-depth interviews with industry leaders and policymakers driving innovation in clean energy, water, transportation, and climate policy.
BROWSE THE ARCHIVE
Resilient California Summit Keynote: Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary for Natural Resources
VX News here features excerpted keynote remarks by Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary for Natural Resources, delivered at the inaugural Resilient California Summit. Crowfoot argues that the state can no longer treat climate mitigation and adaptation as separate efforts, and points to on-the-ground examples, from schoolyard heat-island retrofits and tribal-led cultural burning to Sacramento Valley floodplain restoration and the Klamath dam removals, as models that now need to scale statewide. With a gubernatorial transition ahead and federal environmental protections under pressure, he casts community leaders, not officeholders, as the durable drivers of California’s climate agenda.
Resilient California Summit: “What If We’re Successful?” – Sara Dutschke, Ione Band of Miwok Indians
VX News here features excerpted remarks by Sara Dutschke, Chairwoman of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians and partner at Kaplan Kirsch, where she leads the firm’s tribal practice, delivered at the inaugural Resilient California Summit hosted by the Indigenous Futures Society. Taking up the summit’s theme, “Imagine what’s possible: What if we’re successful?”, Dutschke argues that traditional ecological knowledge should help shape the direction of California’s climate, land-stewardship and resilience work, not simply be added to efforts already underway.
Showcasing California's Innovation and Leadership in Climate Resilience
VX News here features a conversation between Resilient Cities Catalyst founding principal Sam Carter and California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, Yamilett Carrillo of the San Diego Foundation, and Darbi Berry of the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative. The panel took place at the inaugural Resilient California Summit in Sacramento. The speakers examine how cross-border partnerships accelerate California’s climate adaptation work through three initiatives: the 17-region Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership on heat, drought, and wildfire; the San Diego–Tijuana Binational Resilience Initiative; and RE:BEACH Oceanside, an international design competition to address accelerating beach erosion. Read the interview below.
Excerpt: Latest Climate Report Warns of Major Upheaval to California Way of Life
VX News here republishes a New York Times article by Soumya Karlamangla on California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment, released October 19 by the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. The report projects about 4°F of warming by midcentury, a summer season lasting 135 days, and a 40 percent drop in Sierra Nevada snowpack. It also warns that up to three-quarters of the state’s beaches could disappear by 2100.
CA Governors’ Newsom & Schwarzenegger Revisit & Celebrate AB 32: the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
VX News here features a conversation between California Forward’s Kate Gordon, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Governor Gavin Newsom, marking the 20th anniversary of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Speaking at [event name, Long Beach, date], the two governors revisit the bipartisan origins of the landmark law, including Schwarzenegger’s legal fight against the Bush administration and EPA over California’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. They also make the case that AB 32’s economy-wide architecture has decoupled emissions from growth. Newsom details the program’s evolution into cap-and-invest, now extended to 2045 in statute.
Assemblymember Harabedian: Legislative Responses to Eaton Fire’s Devastation
Assemblymember John Harabedian, whose district includes Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre, has spent much of his first term turning the Eaton Fire's hard lessons into legislation. Speaking with VX News after the close of session, Harabedian reflects on AB 1642, his newly signed bill setting first-in-the-nation standards for testing and clearing smoke-damaged homes, and on why the Assembly let SB 492 die rather than declare "mission accomplished." The Assemblymember also explains why he has changed his mind on undergrounding, and names the one question he says every candidate for insurance commissioner must answer.
Future of Regional Mobility: LABC Sustainability Summit
VX News publishes transcript of "Future of Regional Mobility: Game Plan for a Sustainable LA," the closing panel of the Los Angeles Business Council's 20th Annual Sustainability Summit hosted on October 1. Moderated by Phil Recht, partner at Mayer Brown, the panel brought together Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts, Metro Chief Planning Officer Ray Sosa, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, Tom Ashley of Voltera and George Kivork of Archer. They examined how the region can expand transit, goods movement and emerging mobility while decarbonizing transportation, with the 2028 Olympics as a near-term test and a longer horizon beyond. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Wade Crowfoot & Newsom on 30x30: “This Is Not an Intellectual Exercise”
VX News here features a conversation between California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot and Governor Gavin Newsom, with 100 days left in his term, at the 30x30 Partnership 2026 Summit, held September 29 under Renzo Piano’s living roof at the California Academy of Sciences.
California's Energy Future & Wildfire Risk: Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro
VX News here features a conversation between Nat Bullard, co-founder of Halcyon and host of the Nameplate podcast, and Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, recorded for Nameplate's debut episode. Pizarro, who marked a decade as Edison International's chief executive on October 1, traces the company's 140-year arc from the Big Creek hydroelectric project to today's wires-focused Southern California Edison.
L.A. County CAO (fmr) David Janssen on Measure G: ‘We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know’
In 2028, Los Angeles County voters will elect the county's first executive, the centerpiece of Measure G, the charter amendment that narrowly passed in November 2024. Few people understand the job being redesigned better than David Janssen, who ran the county bureaucracy as chief administrative officer from 1996 to 2007 after 13 years in San Diego County's CAO office. TPR reached out and asked him “What problem the LA County Reform is purportedly meant to solve; whether Measure G, the skeleton reform offered, is likely to solve it; and, whether any charter reform can solve the reform challenges described.”