Los Angeles turns ‘most polluting’ World Cup into Olympic rehearsal in bid for climate legacy

Los Angeles is using this year's World Cup, and next year's Super Bowl, as practice runs for the 2028 Summer Olympics. The city is testing heat safety plans, transit upgrades, and crowd management, hoping the lessons and infrastructure stick around afterward. SoFi Stadium, where matches are being played, uses natural airflow through open roof panels instead of air conditioning, plus rainwater collection for irrigation. But the surrounding city tells a different story: nearby Inglewood has only 9 percent tree cover, far below the recommended 30 percent, leaving fans and workers exposed to heat while waiting outside.

On transit, L.A. Metro opened three new subway stops in May, decades in the making, and reported its highest ridership in six years. The agency hopes World Cup crowds will get more residents comfortable using public transit long after the games end, with plans for six more stations by 2028. Still, most of the county's 12,000 bus stops have no shelter or working schedule displays, since local governments, not Metro, control those upgrades.

For homeowners, the direct takeaway is limited: this is mainly a story about public infrastructure and city planning, not home energy programs. But it reflects a broader pattern worth watching in California, where the city's April Climate Action Plan commits to net-zero emissions by 2045 and 100 percent clean energy by 2035. After last year's wildfires, L.A. also dropped a requirement for new homes to skip fossil-fuel systems, a policy shift some worth watching if you're weighing electrification in your own home.