No, California wildfires weren’t deliberately set to build ‘smart cities’ for UN’s 2030 Agenda

Wildfires have ripped through the Los Angeles area, killing at least five people and prompting the evacuation of more than 180,000 people since Jan. 7. In a Jan. 9 press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, said the fire's exact death toll is unknown. 

Now social media users claim that the blazing fires are all part of an agenda to build "smart cities." 

"All these fires are a deliberate criminal land grab in preparation for Agenda 2030 and smart cities," a Jan. 7 Threads comment said under a post by @severeweatherus, which tracks severe weather and posted about the wildfires. 

A Jan. 8 X post made a claim similar to the Threads post, saying that Los Angeles is positioned to become a smart city and comparing it with Lahaina, Maui. Social media users also claimed that catastrophic wildfires tearing through Lahaina in August 2023 intentionally set to make it a "smart island" — a claim PolitiFact rated False.

 "I looked and SURE enough…LA is most certainly on the WEF AI "Smart City" list," the post said, referring to the World Economic Forum, a frequent target of misinformation. "In fact by 2028, LA is poised to be a fully operational AI based ‘Smart City’ just like Lahaina." 

(PolitiFact looked at the 2024 World Economic Forum world’s top smart and sustainable cities list and did not find Los Angeles as one of the top cities.)

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

This is not a new claim. Besides the "smart island" claim about Maui’s wildfires, we have rated similar claims False about wildfires in Canada and Spain’s Canary Islands, noting that installing smart city technologies — which collect information to help cities run more efficiently — would not require destroying existing infrastructure.

California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has reported that the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires started Jan. 7 in Southern California. On Jan. 8, the department reported the Woodley, Lidia and Sunset fires had started in Los Angeles county. As of Jan. 9, the Woodley (according to the department’s website) and Sunset (according to NBC News) fires are currently 100% contained. As of Jan. 9, the Palisades and Eaton fires are zero percent contained while the Lidia fire is 60% contained and the Hurst fire 10% contained.

While the Los Angeles County Fire Department is still investigating what caused the multiple fires, NBC News reported that the fires were sparked by a combination of dry conditions and powerful winds.

Contrary to the social media claims, the wildfires were not caused to make way for "smart cities" and the United Nations’ 2030 agenda. Here’s some background:

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which according to its website includes 17 sustainable development goals to end world poverty, protect the planet and tackle inequalities. 

Among them is Goal 11: "Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable," which includes what some people have termed  "smart cities."

A 2020 United Nations document called People-Smart Sustainable Cities says: 

"The International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe worked together to define a smart sustainable city as ‘an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.’" 

But Shoshanna Saxe, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering, told PolitiFact in 2023 that "smart cities" has "been used so many times that it sort of lost all meaning." 

Saxe said that cities often use the term to describe simpler things, such as creating a smartphone app for residents to contact the city, or open data platforms to make research and development more accessible. 

"A lot of the stuff people are currently calling their smart-city initiatives are really run of the mill operating a city in the 21st century," she said, including using smart electric grids to more efficiently meet energy needs.

PolitiFact found no credible evidence or reports that Los Angeles or other areas in the U.S. are being destroyed to build smart cities. 

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Facebook posts

stated on December 10, 2024 in a post on Facebook

“Elon Musk unveils a $100 Tesla tablet that will revolutionize the technological world.”

Plus, cities don’t need to destroy existing development to apply smart city technology, which mostly involves adding sensors or software to existing infrastructure.

The SmartLA 2028 initiative, which the city’s Information Technology Agency oversees, mentions renovating metro rail and bus systems to improve mobility for residents. (Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics in 2028.) 

The plan also calls for applying technology to help residents with disabilities and creating technology that detects fire, violence or other health risks before residents call 911. Other goals include increasing internet access speeds and accessibility for underserved communities. Another would equip Los Angeles International Airport’s terminals with "multi-lingual electronic wayfinding" during the Olympics and Paralympics. The report doesn’t mention big plans for destroying and rebuilding the city.

A Threads comment suggests Southern California’s raging wildfires "are a deliberate criminal land grab in preparation for Agenda 2030 and smart cities."

That isn’t true. 

Officials have not determined the wildfires’ cause, but there’s no credible evidence that they were set intentionally to advance "smart cities" or the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The U.N.’s  agenda includes building sustainable cities as one of its goals. This includes "smart cities," which add technology to improve quality of life, urban operations and service efficiency.

The SmartLA 2028 initiative doesn’t propose rebuilding the city but rather adding technology to improve residents’ lives. 

Also, installing smart city technology in a city would not require intentional destruction of existing infrastructure.

We rate this claim False.