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GreenBiz Forum
@ UCSF Mission Bay
Feb 27-28
Framed by the 2013 State of Green Business report, GreenBiz Forum defines the trends, challenges and opportunities in sustainable business today. Prepare yourself for the year through in-depth keynote interviews with industry leaders, great ideas shared by innovisionaries and interactive workshops lead by field experts to show you exactly how to apply the concepts introduced throughout the Forum. Get an edge on emerging trends affecting sustainability professionals, and come away with actionable ideas you can apply in your own organization or practice. Use discount code gbf13BC3 to receive 10% off when you register here
SF Environment and BC3 are moving!
The Department of the Environment is excited to be moving into its new office on Market St early Spring. The new location is aiming to achieve LEED Gold for existing buildings.
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January 2013 Climate Leadership Circle representatives at BC3's breakfast briefing with the SF Public Utilities Commission |
Hello everyone and happy New Year! With your help BC3 is poised to make a big impact in 2013. We are developing a number of new offerings; chief among those is the new Climate Leadership Circle. To achieve its mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, BC3 is now bringing together sustainability managers at large employers in the Bay Area to collaborate on climate solutions through the Climate Leadership Circle. To date we are excited to have Wells Fargo, Pacific Gas & Electric, Blue Shield of California, and Salesforce as members of the Circle. For more information on how your company can join, please contact us!
In the next quarter, we will also be forming the Innovator's Circle to better engage business members with specific expertise in developing climate solutions. BC3 is also continuing with a number of topical projects including the release of the white paper on a congestion management and the launch of the What's your Watt? program - see the project updates section below for more info. Be on the lookout for more information on how your business can participate in these and other BC3 activities this year.
Finally, after being involved with BC3 since its start, first as a staff person at SF Environment, and then as a representative of a member company and an advisory committee member, I'm delighted to have this opportunity to step in as Interim Director. You may have already heard that Katherine Michonski, our terrific former Director has accepted a great job as the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for Blue Shield of California. I'm happy to report that along with her new job, Katherine has also moved into a new role at BC3 as a member of our Advisory Committee, a BC3 corporate sponsor, and a representative in the Climate Leadership Circle.
Congratulations, Katherine and thank you so much for all your hard work at BC3!
-Melissa Capria, Interim Director
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Introducing: What's Your Watt?
Together with SF Environment and the San Francisco Public Library, BC3 launched What's-Your-Watt?, a program to spread consumer awareness of the energy use of common appliances and to inspire behavior change in energy consumption.
Wondering how efficient your business' energy use is? Want to uncover new areas of cost-savings? Thanks to our generous sponsors, Wells Fargo and PG&E, BC3 is now able to offer our members access to energy meters that produce real time information on the wattage, costs, and CO2 emissions of individual appliances and electronic devices. This information gives businesses the ability to better manage energy consumption and target areas for improvement. With this awareness your business can identify inefficiencies and look to reduce spending on unnecessary energy use. Meters are available for check out from the BC3 office the first Monday of each month and need to be returned the final Monday of the same month. More information and specific instructions can be found on our website.
We're lucky to have had so much media attention for the What's Your Watt? program. Check it out!
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Make installing household solar easy for your employees! Take part in SF SunShares, a Bay Area solar group purchasing program
The Business Council on Climate Change, in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Environment, is thrilled to offer you an opportunity to participate in the San Francisco SunShares program, an exciting initiative that will give your employees the chance to install solar power on their homes at a significant discount.
What is San Francisco SunShares?
SF SunShares is a program that enables your employees living in the nine county Bay Area Region to purchase or lease discounted solar by aggregating the projects with no extra work for you or your company. SunShares will guide your employees through the vendor selection and installation process - all you need to do is build the momentum and encourage your employees to participate through your existing communication channels.
How does this program benefit my company?
For your company, this program enables a unique employee benefit, delivers on corporate sustainability goals, and leverages the collective action of your workforce to help achieve community clean energy goals throughout the Bay Area.
Next steps?
- Let us know of your company's interest in the SF SunShares program by emailing bc3@bc3sfbay.org by January 31, 2013.
- Join the City & County of San Francisco's workforce in this innovative program, just in time for Spring Sustainability events!
Contact the Business Council on Climate Change at bc3@bc3sfbay or call BC3's Shannon Miller at 650-619-5841 to learn how your company can get involved.
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Congestion Management Working Group Completes its Recommendations
 The Congestion Management Working Group held its final meeting on November 8, 2012, wrapping up six months of discussions on how traffic congestion affects businesses in San Francisco. BC3 is finalizing the white paper describing the strategies and recommendations offered by the Working Group to support congestion management and to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of various carbon reduction strategies such as congestion pricing related to congestion management. Here's a quick sampling of some of the recommendations: Expand conversation beyond GHG reductions. When speaking to the business community about congestion pricing, focus on tactical business concerns and potential cost savings that are likely to generate more support. Show businesses that reducing congestion (rather than only reducing GHG emissions) will create benefits such as customer access, improved deliveries/goods movement, easier commuting for employees, and improved quality of life in San Francisco. Provide data and clear information about policy goals and implementation. Working Group members stressed the importance of providing readily available, verifiable, and transparent data for any congestion pricing policy to help build trust. Improve transit prior to implementing cordon pricing. Working Group members stressed that any congestion pricing policy should be implemented in coordination with significant transit improvements. If transit improvements are delayed to allow congestion pricing to first generate revenue, mode shift benefits will be lessened, and congestion pricing may face more public acceptance challenges. BC3 gratefully acknowledges the significant contribution of the members of the Working Group, who provided consistently thoughtful feedback over the monthly breakfasts, and CH2M HILL for sponsorship of the Working Group. Stay tuned for announcements on the release of the white paper in the near future!
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Are you frustrated with the recycling situation at your office?
SF Environment offers free on-site assistance to help your business reduce waste and comply with the City's Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance. We offer multi-lingual staff training, program set-up assistance and education materials including signs, stickers, sample tenant training presentation and letter to tenants, and other resources to help your business better recycle, compost and reduce waste. For more information click here.
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Fiscal Cliff Deal Restores Pre-Tax Transit Benefit to $245
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 legislation recently signed into law includes a long-awaited boost for commuters: an increase in pre-tax transit and vanpool benefits to $245 per month, enabling commuters using the full deduction amount to save more than $1,000 a year on transportation costs. If your business is interested in more information about implementing a commuter benefits program, please visit www.sfenvironment.org/commuterbenefits or contact the CommuteSmart team at CommuteSmart@sfgov.org.
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BC3 depends on interns to execute programming, maintain operations, and provide project support. We're always looking for talented individuals to join our team. If you know of any candidates, please refer them to the job description on our job opportunities page. Our current intern, Shannon Miller, is about to complete her 3-month internship, which means she's on the job market!
 Chelsey Sleznikow is our newest intern and has recently completed her undergraduate career at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a degree in International Relations and Sustainability. Having been raised in Wisconsin she is intrigued by the progressive and alternative environment San Francisco has to offer and is so excited to be a part of an organization working with the public and private sectors to address climate change.
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