What needs to happen to strengthen climate resilience in the US?

The fires in Los Angeles of January 2025 were devastating. They were also made about 35% more likely due to climate change. This is true all over the world; a recent study authored by Research Fellow Pierre Masselot at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that rising temperatures could kill an extra 2.3 million people in Europe by the end of the century. Sylvia Leyva Martinez, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie and host of Interchange Recharged, talks to Pierre at the start of the show about the study, and the implications of a rapidly heating environment for US energy.

Those implications were made clear in January – and it emphasised the need for increased climate resilience: it’s a dynamic process rather than a static outcome and involves both mitigation (reducing emissions) and adaptation (adjusting to the impacts already in motion). In short, communities and economies need more robust frameworks to deal with climate change. Nuin-Tara Key is Executive Director of Programs at California Forward. California Forward builds strategies for businesses and governments in the region to improve climate resilience. California’s climate reduction efforts could be a billion-dollar enterprise - that is the annual revenue threshold for public and private companies that do business in the state to publicly disclose scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (scopes 1 & 2 from 2026 onwards, 2027 for scope 3). When compared with the federal level requirements that are currently being contested in various courts, this is a very strong policy to prompt companies to disclose their carbon emissions.

California is also one of about twenty US states that have a state-led adaptation strategy. Their strategy is updated frequently and is one of the most comprehensive plans from any of the states that have submitted a strategy plan. It was Arnold Schwarzenegger himself who requested it be put in place back in 2008 when he was Governor. So how have things changed since then? How do they improve climate resilience? How can it be strengthened in uncertain economic and political times? How can we balance mitigation with adaptation? Sylvia and Nuin-Tara talk it all through.

Join the conversation with us - we’re on most social platforms at @interchangeshow. We’d love to get your feedback.

If you haven’t heard it already, check out our sister podcast Energy Gang. We had Kate Gordon, CEO at California Forward, on a special episode recorded at New York Climate Week, which explored many of the themes we talked about today and plenty more.