In response to the COVID-19 crisis, policymakers are drafting the largest economic stimulus packages in history. These policies offer a tremendous opportunity to invest in sustainability-related initiatives. This webinar will examine:

•  How should we think about the environment during and after the pandemic?
• The recovery from the 2008 recession advanced environmental goals in unprecedented ways. What are lessons from the 2008 recession and the ways it advanced environmental goals that could be adapted today?
• What key opportunities and needs exist for environmental investments in COVID economic stimulus packages? 
• What can the public sector do to advance sustainability goals at the local, state, and federal level? How can investments maximize social, economic, and environmental benefits?

WATCH HERE

This UCLA Luskin Summit session is co-hosted by the Luskin Center for Innovation and the USC Schwarzenegger Institute.

Speakers

J.R. DeShazo
Director
Luskin Center for Innovation

J.R. DeShazo is the Director of the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA. He also is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Policy in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, where he is an expert in environmental economics and planning, as well as climate, energy, water and sustainable transportation policy. He holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from Harvard University and a M.Sc. in Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He was awarded Professor of the Year five times from 2001 to 2019 by the UCLA Masters Program in Public Policy. His recent research has focused on designing cost effective and equitable policies that incentivize clean technology adoption. He has previously advised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, the United Nations, McArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, among many state and local governmental agencies.

Bob Keefe
Executive Director
Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2)

Bob Keefe is E2’s Executive Director, overseeing E2’s work across the country and coordinating E2’s staff and chapters stretching from Boston to San Diego. Bob speaks regularly about the economic benefits of smart environmental policies; the clean energy economy; jobs and related issues, and has been widely quoted in publications nationwide. Prior to joining E2 in 2011, Bob spent more than 20 years as a political, business and environmental journalist. He served as the chief Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; as a California-based national reporter for Cox Newspapers/Cox News Service; as technology editor for the Austin (Tx) American-Statesman and as a business and investigative reporter for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. Bob also co-founded a technology news Web site and has co-authored or edited several business-related books. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Fran Pavley
Environmental Policy Director, USC Schwarzenegger Institute, and California State Senator Emeritus

Fran Pavley served 29 years in elected office. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Pavley was elected the first mayor of Agoura Hills in 1982, and served 14 years in the California Assembly and the State Senate. Former State Senator Pavley authored landmark climate policies (AB 1493, AB 32, SB 32, and others) that have created a market for innovation and investment in clean energy and vehicles, which have helped clean up our air, grow the economy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As chair of the Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee, she was able to pass the state’s first sustainable Groundwater Management Act, promote policies to protect our ocean and watersheds, and adopt measures to create more sustainable local water supplies. She is working as the Environmental Policy Director for the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, and serves on several state and local advisory boards and committees.

Matt Petersen
President and CEO
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)

Prior to joining LACI, Matt Petersen was appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti as the first ever Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles. Serving as CSO for four years, Petersen was the chief architect of the groundbreaking Sustainable City pLAn, led efforts to make LA a global leader in EVs, and helped create the Climate Mayors. Matt co-founded Global Green USA and led the organization for 19 years as President and CEO. The organization was a pioneer in greening of affordable housing, schools, and cities as well as helping grow the solar sector. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Matt put forth a vision and mobilized resources to green the rebuilding of New Orleans, including schools, the Lower 9th Ward, and more. Matt is chair of the Climate Mayors board, and a board member of Global Green USA, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, Center for Environmental Health, and the Sir Edmund Hilary Institute for International Leadership. Matt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the LA Sustainability Leadership Council, and served as an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative on energy and the environment while a CGI member for 10 years. He has a son, and is a retired AYSO coach.