California wildfires shift global climates toward adaptation

In the wake of the raging California wildfires, environmental groups are shifting the climate conversation away from mitigation and toward adaptation and resilience.

Whether people believe that humans cause climate change, just make it worse or have no impact at all is “irrelevant at this point,” said Jillian Blanchard, vice president of Climate Change and Environmental Justice at the California nonprofit Advocates for Good Government. .

“We need money to adapt, to be resilient and to mitigate, if for no other reason than the economic impacts,” she said.

Blanchard helped create the Governor of California. Gavin Newsom’s 2018 climate change platform as part of his re-election campaign. She still advises cities and public agencies on infrastructure, environmental and energy issues.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 2024, there were 28 natural disasters in the US each with more than $1 billion in damage.

This year’s California wildfires have already racked up more than $275 billion in damages as the fires continue. “It’s the most expensive fire in history,” Blanchard said.

Scott Aaronson, senior vice president of security and preparedness for the Edison Electric Institute, which represents U.S. investor-owned utilities, said the change in the threat environment has happened relatively quickly.

“The number of ‘one-in-100-year’ storms or ‘absolutely extraordinary weather conditions’ we’ve seen is somewhat concerning,” he said, noting that Los Angeles has had just 0.17 inches of rain since June.

Adaptability and resilience are core competencies for the electrical industry. From natural disasters to cyber risk, electric utilities play a central role in maintaining national security, economic competitiveness and the health and safety of communities, Aaronson said.

“We’re working with operators, policymakers, regulators to understand that the threat environment is evolving and that operations and resilience, adaptation, hardening and preparedness must evolve with it.”

“Being without power for any length of time is not just inconvenient, it can be dangerous,” Aaronson said.

In 2023, the electricity industry spent $168 billion on system resiliency, updating and upgrading, he said.

What’s in a name

Climate change is “an existential crisis, a threat to our existence,” yet many policymakers in Florida won’t even use the word climate, Blanchard said.

“They talk about adaptation because they understand that flooding is happening and will continue to happen,” Blanchard said.

“Hurricanes that were once tropical storms when they hit are now Category 5 hurricanes because the Gulf [of Mexico] it’s so warm. It is a scientific fact. This never happened. It’s never been like that,” Blanchard said. “They know these things are happening. Whether they care about the climate at all, they care about the economy,” she said.

Forbes reported that thanks to the “catalytic impact” of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, California saw the most private investment in clean energy between 2022 and 2024—$94 billion.

But Florida saw the third most private investment at $29 billion.

The state is no stranger to weather events and has adapted.

Utility giant Florida Power & Light spent $3 billion on adaptive measures after a devastating 2004-2005 hurricane season that left citizens without power for more than half a month.

“They spent $3 billion underground [power lines] where it made sense, to get rid of all the wood poles in their transmission system, put in flood monitors, have a more aggressive vegetation management and tree cutting protocol, to be better prepared,” he said Aaronson.

From 2005-2017, not a single hurricane made landfall in Florida.

“Then the 2017 season happened, 4.6 million people lost power, almost every county in Florida Power & Light’s territory had hurricane-force winds,” he said.

But it only took 6 days to fully respond to that storm, Aaronson said.

“They spent $3 billion to harden their system and improve responsiveness, and then they were able to go from an 18-day restoration to a six-day restoration, ultimately saving $12 billion,” Aaronson said. . “The state of Florida spent $3 billion to save $12 billion. Persistence has value.”

“Fifty years ago, people would lose power, and it was inappropriate, but there was almost a romantic aspect to it. You can light some candles, read some books, spend some time with the family,” Aaronson said.

Now, when the power is out, “commerce stops. It becomes unsafe. Evacuations are hindered. It’s really important that electricity is even more resilient than it ever has to be,” he said.

Adaptation Plus Softening equals resilience

California’s wildfires would be much worse if it weren’t for adaptive measures like fire management practices, said Ben Leffel, a professor of public policy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Climate change itself raises temperatures, he said. It dries up the foliage, brings stronger storms, more lightning and “makes everything more flammable,” Leffel said.

And that starts more fires.

“The bigger [number] of wildfires then spews more smoke, CO2 into the atmosphere, which perpetuates “a vicious cycle that makes future fires and the winds that fuel them worse,” he said.

The fires certainly “shock people into the need for more adaptation”, but “we must not give up [on mitigation] because every molecule of CO2 that is taken out of the atmosphere makes a difference. It’s critical,” Leffel said.

“Building a resilient society is not a political issue. It’s just the smart thing to do,” said Clarence Edwards, executive director of the nonpartisan international energy and climate think tank E3G.

“Building resilience focuses the conversation on the tangible impacts of climate change and what we need to do to adapt as the world evolves,” he said.

In 2024, the World Bank Group mobilized $42.6 billion in climate finance. About a third of this went to adaptation and resilience, helping countries cope with the impact of weather events. Multilateral development banks estimate that financing for climate mitigation and adaptation will increase to $120 billion, including $42 billion for adaptation.

Leffel, who specializes in sustainability and climate finance, said, “globally, out of about $1.3 trillion, roughly 5% is dedicated to adaptation.”

A frog in a pot

“The longer we fail to mitigate enough, the more we will have to adapt,” Leffel said.

“We are the frog in the pot,” he said. “The fire starts to boil. If we are unable to reduce the heat, we must begin to become increasingly resilient to increased heat and all the climatological, ecological and meteorological impacts of inadequately mitigated climate change.”

That’s what the fires are telling the world, Leffel said.

Part of the adaptation is more international cooperation on resilience. Canada and Mexico, along with neighboring states like Oregon, are helping Californians with wildfire mitigation and recovery, he said. “This is subnational diplomacy,” Leffel said.

Customization spans industries from construction and materials to generators to landscaping and insurance.

Edwards at E3G said, “Climate impacts will accelerate the need for insurance reform,” he said.

A study by the Brookings Institution found that average homeowner’s insurance premiums will increase by more than 30% between 2020 and 2023. Some insurance companies have stopped writing policies in high-risk areas prone to increased climate disasters.

The study said, “Policy numbers for last resort plans doubled from 2018-2023 in Florida, California and Louisiana, and Florida’s last resort insurer became one of the 10 largest homeowner insurers in 2023.”

If insurance companies don’t provide coverage because of increased climate risk, “the federal government will become a funder of last resort,” Edwards said. “This is a gateway to a financial crisis.”

For example, Floridians will find it “difficult to afford insurance to keep up with rising sea levels and increasingly destructive floods and storms,” ​​Edwards said.

Forbes has reported on the insurance industry’s push for climate policy that includes more corporate transparency.

“Insurance companies are lobbying hard for climate policy because of the nature of the risk,” Leffel said. “Fossil fuels have the luxury of pretending climate change isn’t real, insurance companies don’t.”

California stays the course on climate

When the fires broke out on January 7, Governor Newsom had already spent billions of dollars on the state’s firefighting apparatus over the years.

In fact, three days after the fires began, he sent his 2025-2026 budget request to the state legislature, a $322.3 billion fiscal plan that includes $4 billion for “projects to protect communities, to keep wildfires from the most dangerous growth and to help the firefighters in fighting the fires.”

But there is also money in the budget for a $10 billion climate bond.

California has been a visible champion for climate action for decades. It is the largest producer of solar, geothermal and biomass energy production. Half of the state’s electricity comes from renewable sources. State officials increased the adoption of electric vehicles and promoted the eradication of fossil fuels for energy production and transportation.

Asked whether climate mitigation seems futile after the fires, Leffel said the climate crisis facing the U.S. is a triage situation.

“We address the source of the problem with mitigation measures, but we also address the systems, which in this case are wildfires,” Leffel said.

Edwards said, “California can do a lot about mitigation, but what if others don’t?”

“California may be a world leader, but it’s not sitting on its own planet,” he said.