Los Angeles County has received a C+ on its first-ever environmental report card, issued by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IOES).

The report card, released on Tuesday, is the result of a two-year study that looked at several areas related to the region’s environmental health: air, water, waste, ecosystem health, energy (and greenhouse gases) and quality of life.

Researchers applauded the gains made in recent decades but said that much more lies ahead before the county is a safe environment for all residents.

“The county has made great progress on the environment so far, but there’s still really significant challenges and a long way to go to the A grade,” said Felicia Federico, a researcher at UCLA IOES who worked on the study.

One of the overarching issues identified by the study is a lack of available knowledge on several environmental issues. The report provides suggestions for ways to improve the county's performance.

Federico said that the study will be redone every one to two years and that this initial report provides a good starting point against which future progress can be judged.

"It allows us to provide a picture to residents, to elected officials and environmental agencies of where we stand right now," Federico said. "It also provides a baseline against which to measure progress going forward.”

Environmental Report Card 2015

All images provided courtesy of UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.