Water & Climate Resilience Committee
Between wildfires, floods, drought, and extreme heat events, the Bay Area has broken virtually every climate-related record over the past decade. The Bay Area Council’s Water & Climate Resilience Committee advocates for innovative policy solutions to make the Bay Area the most climate-resilient coastal region in the world.
2024 Priorities
- Pass statewide climate resilience bond which incorporates key priorities of the Bay Area Council-led statewide coalition.
- Develop pipeline of innovative climate adaptation projects through the California Resilience Challenge.
Water & Climate Resilience Committee Co-Chairs
Sal Coniglio, CEO, Recology
Jim Levine, Managing Partner, Montezuma Wetlands
California Resilience Challenge
The California Resilience Challenge brings together businesses, utilities, and non-profit organizations to develop a pipeline of early-stage climate adaptation planning projects to strengthen local resilience in under-resourced communities across California against floods, drought, wildfires, and extreme heat. A philanthropic initiative of the Bay Area Council Foundation, the California Resilience Challenge is shaped each year by the Challenge’s Steering and Advisory Committees administered by the Bay Area Council Foundation. Learn more about the California Resilience Challenge here.
Climate Mitigation Task Force
The Climate Change Mitigation Task Force develops pro-growth policy recommendations to cut green tape and speed corporate decarbonization efforts. We help leading Bay Area companies achieve their emissions reductions goals to ensure the Bay Area leads the emerging post-carbon economy.
2024 Priorities
- Advocate for policies and regulatory reforms that enable employers to achieve net-zero energy and decarbonization goals.
- Support investments to modernize electric grid infrastructure and expand renewable energy supplies and delivery capacity.
- Encourage partnerships among member organizations to scale shared infrastructure.
- Secure $2 billion for clean energy in a 2024 climate resilience bond.
- Work to remove financing, production, and policy barriers in order to accelerate deployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and develop incentives to increase use of SAFs.
Climate Mitigation Task Force Co-Chairs
Diana Birkett Rakow, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Sustainability Alaska Airlines
Joydeep Ganguly, Senior Vice President, Corporate Operations, Gilead Sciences
Energy Committee
California’s energy grid is threatened by climate-driven wildfires and increasing demand due to economic growth and warmer temperatures. The Bay Area Council Energy Committee advances policies to ensure California has a reliable, affordable, and clean energy future to achieve the state’s 2045 clean energy goals.
2024 Priorities
- Expedite carbon capture and sequestration projects by sponsoring legislation to grant expedited judicial CEQA review and participating in the regulatory implementation of SB 905 (Caballero, Skinner) to establish a carbon capture, removal, utilization, and storage program and regulations.
- Explore the potential of small modular nuclear reactors to help California meet growing electricity demand and achieve ambitious carbon reduction goals.
- Lead site tours at critical energy infrastructure locations across California, such as the Calpine Geothermal Facility and PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear facility, and Calpine’s Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project in Contra Costa County.
Energy Committee Co-Chairs
Alex Makler, Senior Vice President, West Region, Calpine
Carla Peterman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer, PG&E
Get Involved
All our climate-focused committees are open to Bay Area Council members. To find our committee meetings and other events check out our upcoming events calendar. For more information, contact Senior Vice President Adrian Covert (acovert@bayareacouncil.org).
