“The story we want to tell in 2028 is simple: Olympic athletes should arrive in Los Angeles and not breathe a single iota of NOx or particulate matter from ships at the Port of LA,” STAX Chief Strategy Officer Edward Norton said during LACI’s Road to 2028 Summit.
As the City of Los Angeles prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in July and August of 2028, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) is using that moment to accelerate real-world climate and air-quality solutions for the city through its Road to 2028 initiative. STAX joined the conversation at LACI’s recent Road to 2028 Leadership Summit, which brought together policymakers, infrastructure leaders, and companies working on practical emissions solutions that can be deployed and scaled in the years leading up to the Games.
During the summit, Norton and STAX CEO Mike Walker shared how STAX’s emissions capture and control technology is already removing harmful pollutants from ships at California ports, including the Port of LA, supporting compliance with the state’s strict regulations and delivering immediate air-quality benefits for surrounding communities.
Here are some of the biggest themes from the conversation, and what they mean for Los Angeles as the city looks ahead to 2028.
Emissions in LA—and why CARB’s regulation matters
Ports are central to California’s economy, but they are also among the region’s largest sources of air pollution—particularly from ships while docked at berth.
During the panel, Walker put the scale into perspective: a single vessel at berth can generate the same amount of daily emissions as 44,000 cars. Across the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, that adds up to the equivalent of roughly six million cars’ worth of pollution each day.
These emissions are linked to increased rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia, disproportionately affecting communities that live and work near ports. For Los Angeles, improving air quality isn’t just an environmental priority; it’s a public health imperative.
To address this, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) introduced the At-Berth Regulation, which requires vessels to significantly reduce emissions while docked. The regulation has been phased in over time and continues to expand to cover additional vessel classes. By 2027, it will reach full implementation across California ports—creating an urgent need for solutions that can scale quickly and reduce emissions without disrupting shippers’ operations or global supply chains.
How STAX is helping LA area ports—and why emissions capture works here
STAX has been operating at the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles since early 2024—with mobile barges equipped with emissions capture technology that connects directly to vessels’ exhaust stacks. This system captures and filters harmful pollutants before they enter the atmosphere, without requiring costly vessel retrofits or port infrastructure upgrades.
The solution is scaling rapidly: STAX is slated to complete over 20,000 hours of emission capture by the end of 2025 across eight barges servicing four ports, with operations spanning major hubs in Southern and Northern California.
Walker and Norton reinforced emissions capture as a critical complement to electrification. Shore power (plugging into the grid while docked) remains an important emissions reduction strategy, but only about 3% of ports globally have the infrastructure to support it. Even where shore power exists, compatibility challenges, retrofit costs, and grid capacity limitations remain a hurdle. Additionally, available electricity often still comes from fossil fuels—it isn’t always clean. STAX fills this gap by capturing emissions without drawing from the grid.
“If the At-Berth Regulation can be met with a non-electrification solution like STAX,” Norton noted, “it means they can use the available power supply for other forms of electrification.”
The efficiency of STAX’s technology is matched by affordability. Emissions capture is cost-neutral for most customers (costing just a few dollars per vehicle for auto carriers and roughly half a cent per gallon for oil services ). These modest costs unlock outsized benefits for communities.
“When we talk about affordability, there is affordability at the pump, but there is also the affordability of cancer,” Norton said. “You are literally saving billions of dollars in healthcare and thousands of lives.”
California innovation scaling globally
“To say that this company is a California-incubated company is an understatement,” Norton noted. “I want to highlight that California, with the At-Berth Regulation, has really demonstrated the art of the possible—not just for the United States, but for the entire world.”
The panel emphasized that California’s success stems from a “smartly calibrated” regulatory framework—one that champions innovation, targeted funding, and clear enforcement. Early support from programs like the CARB technology accelerator grant helped STAX move from concept to commercial deployment.
Today, that success is resonating well beyond the West Coast. STAX’s technology has developed international momentum, demonstrating how policies and innovation pioneered in California can serve as a global template for the future of shipping.
The road to 2028
At the start of 2027, the CARB At-Berth Regulation will reach full implementation, extending emissions reduction requirements to all ports and vessel classes across the state.
This timing is critical. As Los Angeles prepares for the Olympic Games, meaningful climate progress is already underway. STAX is proud to be on the Road to 2028, dedicated to ensuring that the air athletes and visitors breathe reflects what is possible when California innovation and policy come together.
