CA FWD's 2026 Vision for a Resilient, Sustainable, and Inclusive Economy

In Vision 2026, we outline the programs, projects, and initiatives CA FWD is leading this year. From bioeconomy and battery supply chain strategies, to developing best practices for community benefits agreements, to mobilizing capital for community-led climate resilience projects, our programs serve a common purpose: to build a New California Economy where people across every region and community can prosper, both today and into the future.

Ever Forward: The Story of California Forward

Written by Susan Lovenburg, CA FWD’s former Chief Operating Officer and recipient of the 2024 California Steward Leader Legacy Award, “Ever Forward: The Story of California Forward” tells the history of CA FWD from its origins two decades ago through the present day.

Preparing for Wildfire by Protecting What Matters: Reducing Community Risk and Improving Economic Outcomes

The policy brief summarizes insights from a workgroup of subject matter experts CA FWD convened in spring 2025 to assess California’s current policy and regulatory landscape. Workgroup members brought expertise across the built environment, planning, finance, and insurance. The report also incorporates insights from CA FWD’s Wildfire Policy Forum held in May 2025, along with targeted expert interviews.

California Climate-Smart Economy Initiative Discussion Paper

CA FWD and Resources Legacy Fund partnered to write this discussion paper, which shows how we can reimagine climate leadership through economic prosperity. California has an opportunity to step forward as a model for climate action, and as the architect of a new climate-smart economy.

Rethinking Community Benefits Industry Specific Insights for a Transforming California

A graduate capstone project done for CA FWD by Melissa Moyce at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, this report draws from research, expert interviews, policy analysis, and case studies to assess how project benefits are being shared across three important industries in the energy transition. This report culminated in the completion of the Energy Project Benefits Agreement Database, launched in September 2025.

Building a New California Economy: 2025 Vision

Read about the exciting programs and projects we are working on to build a New California Economy that is resilient, sustainable, and inclusive so people across every region and community can prosper—both today and into the future.

Insurance Design Sprint Event Brief

Read the brief to learn more about the outcomes from our Insurance Design Sprint and the next steps in the Climate Resilience District Incubator, which are part of CA FWD’s ‘Catalyzing investment in Climate Resilience’ program.

Energizing California: Regional Lessons And Recommendations For Action

Throughout 2023, CA FWD hosted regional energy listening sessions with regional partners in the Sierra and rural forested communities, the greater Los Angeles area, the Imperial Valley, and Kern County, to hear from leading practitioners and those on the ground on what is working, where there are outstanding barriers and how to move California’s energy resilience forward. This report summarizes the input received and lessons learned from these listening sessions across California. The regional summaries are then synthesized into findings and recommendations for moving California’s energy system forward equitably and expeditiously.

Building a More Inclusive and Sustainable California

Building a More Inclusive and Sustainable California, a report from CA FWD and Boston Consulting Group, summarizes concrete recommendations we heard from elected officials, agency staff, and community leaders and members across the state to maximize and amplify the upcoming federal funds and accelerate project delivery. By acting now, the state could deliver up to $180 billion worth of infrastructure projects and ~400,000 direct and indirect construction jobs.

Building A Sustainable Energy Future: A Call to Action

Building A Sustainable Energy Future: A Call to Action provides a framework for California to move forward with an urgency befitting the reality before us, and the awareness that we must question the siloed frameworks of the past if we are to bring all Californians forward with us into a healthier, more prosperous future

As the state continues to chart a path toward carbon neutrality, this Call to Action provides context on California’s energy landscape and issues a set of recommendations to align state policy around a sustainable energy system that works for all Californians.

Empowering Communities through Inclusive, Regional Economic Development

CA FWD’s report, “Empowering Communities through Inclusive, Regional Economic Development,” provides a framework for understanding the landscape of regional economic development ecosystems in California. It includes key on-the-ground observations—including challenges and promising practices—to inform regional economic mobility strategies grounded in equity and environmental sustainability.

Guide to Regional Inclusive, Economic Development

With information and promising practices gathered from interviews with regional leaders from across the California, including those in our California Stewardship Network (CSN), this guide is intended to support regions in their inclusive economic development efforts by sharing strategies that regions can start using today.

The Need for Equitable Economic Revitalization

In response to the current economic crisis, the state must institute a decision-making process that will rapidly deploy resources to stimulate a resilient, equitable, and sustainable economy. The focus must be on how these investments can not only improve the current conditions of low-income communities, both urban and rural, but how they can correct for the lack of investment over time that has resulted in the inequality we see today.

California's Wildfire Crisis: A Call to Action

To achieve the “moonshot” needed to address California’s wildfire crisis, the California Economic Summit has identified the case for action, challenges, and action principles essential to understanding and building a comprehensive triple-bottom line response.