Ounce of Prevention: Advancing Equitable Climate Resilience Planning in California

How are California cities preparing for climate change? 

Climate Resolve and Farallon Strategies explore that essential question in the report Ounce of Prevention. Advancing Equitable Climate Resilience Planning in California.

Cities are on the frontline of climate change. Policies adopted by city councils may either help prepare the public for heat waves, or their decisions could make matters worse. The same is true for fighting wildfires or how cities build along the coast.

In 2015, Senate Bill 379 was signed into law, which tasked municipalities to update General Plans for risks associated with climate change and to identify strategies to protect the public from those impacts. The deadline for compliance was January 1, 2022.

So how did California do?

Unfortunately, only half of the state’s cities complied with this important law by the date of publication.

Yet among the cities and counties that complied with SB 379, Ounce of Prevention found examples of insightful resilience planning that can point the way for other cities in California as well as the broader community of practice. The report arrived at twenty key findings and seventeen key policy recommendations.

The research project was made possible via the California Conservation Innovations program of Resources Legacy Fund.