Our coalition formed at the end of 2020 to engage in the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Scoping Plan as a first coordinated step in addressing the lack of environmental justice (EJ) voices in statewide building decarbonization efforts in California.
Our engagement soon showed us that state agencies needed to hear directly from community members on how our communities envision building decarbonization for their homes. Thus, in 2022, we held five regional listening sessions in EJ communities in the San Joaquin Valley, East Coachella Valley, Los Angeles, and San Francisco Bay Area. This effort produced a Preliminary Report that clearly defines key concerns, opportunities, and recommendations for equitable building decarbonization.
We have since uplifted the report findings in several policy and regulatory spaces in addition to CARB, such as the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and the California Legislature. These findings, in addition to lessons learned and best practices from our local building decarbonization efforts led by individual BEEP members, continue to inform California’s equitable building decarbonization development.
