The Lewis Center works to identify and support research needed to strengthen local governments’ capacity to adapt to climate change, and to translate that research into a form useful to those leading and working within local governments.  Housed within the Lewis Center, the UCLA Luskin Center's Program on Local Government Climate Action Policies provides immediate resources for policymakers and researchers through symposia, searchable databases, and links to reports, articles, and working papers related to local climate policy.

Current research includes an in-depth study of California climate action plans by Lewis Center Director J.R. DeShazo and Rui Wang, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, who seek to answer the following questions:

• What have cities in California done to mitigate their impact on the climate?
• How do these Climate Action Plans vary across cities?
• Which cities translate promises into climate action?
• Which types of cities are more likely to complete their promises and why?
• Is the adoption of climate plans spatially related? Studying spatial diffusion of local climate policies and plans will allow us to find out if and how the leaders are affecting the followers.