On November 17, 2010 BC3 held its Semi-Annual Full Member Meeting at the Ninth Street Independent Film Center, home of this year’s full member meeting hosts: San Francisco Green Film Festival. The meeting attracted 36 BC3 members for three hours of presentations, discussions, and networking at the film center.

Several exciting, new BC3 initiatives were unveiled at this meeting, including BC3’s newest Climate Action Plan project team, the launch of BC3’s Climate Leadership Profile Tool, and the development of a BC3 / BAC Electric Vehicle Guide for Your Business. Here we provide a brief summary of the meeting, along with event resources and other information.

Welcome and Introductions
Andrea Gardner, CH2M Hill; Jennifer Kass, SF Environment (co-chairs of the Advisory Committee)
Andrea and Jennifer welcomed BC3’s new members and partners as well as two new Advisory Committee members: Bill Peterson of New Resource Bank, and Roger Huldi of the W Hotels, and thanked our three outgoing Advisory Committee members: Fiona Berry, SAIC; Franky Mo, Gap; Phil Williams, Webcor. They also welcomed new program manager, Katherine Michonski, and two new BC3 interns, Swaroop Raju and Laura Cackette.


Launch of BC3’s Climate Leadership Profile Tool
Andrea Gardner, CH2M Hill; Barb Wilson, CSRware; Fiona Berry, SAIC

The newly developed “Climate Leadership Profile Tool” tool was officially launched at the meeting. Advisory Committee member Andrea Gardner introduced the tool and how it came together as a method for member companies to measure their progress on implementing the Five Principles of Climate Leadership. Barb Wilson of CSRware then showed members how to register via CSRware’s login portal, while Fiona Berry of SAIC walked BC3 members through answering questions listed under Principle Five of the survey.

Next steps: All Primary Liaisons will be emailed a username and a URL, through which they can create a password. After this is completed, they can login via BC3’s site. Our goal is to have all members fill out the survey by February 1, 2011 so we can aggregate the data and track your business’ progress as compared with other BC3 members. If you have any questions or comments please call Laura Cackette at 415-355-3773. 

Electric Vehicle Project Team
Andrew Michael, BAC; Tom Brigham, ParkPod 

Andrew Michael of the Bay Area Council updated BC3 members on the current status of the Electric Vehicle project team. The project team is currently developing a guide for bay area businesses to implement an EV program. Highlights of the guide include information on why a business should adopt an EV program, the steps a company should take to implement said program, and case studies of successful, forward-thinking companies with EV programs. Tom Brigham of Parkpod followed Andrew with a presentation on the type II EV charger installed at the Hilton parking garage. 

A Green Vision for San Francisco 
Melanie Nutter, Director, SF Environment 

Melanie Nutter delivered remarks outlining her vision for San Francisco and how the Department of the Environment and BC3 can work together to make San Francisco a leader in green business practices. Given the lack of movement by the U.S. and international climate community, she stressed the importance of cities like San Francisco leading the way to enact innovative climate and energy policies. After her remarks, BC3 members engaged in an active dialogue on issues such as congestion pricing, the PACE program, revolving loan funds for climate initiatives, among others. 


San Francisco Climate Action Plan - New BC3 Project Team!
Calla Ostrander, SF Environment

As San Francisco’s Climate Action Coordinator, Calla Ostrander manages the city’s three sets of GHG inventories and tracks GHG emissions across 47 city departments. During her presentation she provided an overview of San Francisco’s emissions by sector and future emissions forecasts. She noted that while San Francisco is beating its Kyoto targets, it will still have to cut emissions by 14% to achieve the 2012 goal. To do this, the city could remove three times its municipal fleet from the roads, eliminate 90% of residential energy usage, or make renewables 20 percent of the local energy mix. San Francisco is revising its 2004 climate action plan and wants BC3’s feedback. If you were not at the full member meeting and would like to join a project team on this issue, please contact Katherine Michonski at katherine@bc3sfbay.org. 

Sneak Peek of Select San Francisco Green Film Festival Film
Rachel Caplan, Founder and Director of SF Green Film Festival

The host of this year’s full member meeting, SF Green Film Festival is the first ever green-themed film festival. Founder and Director Rachel Caplan presented her vision for the event, which she hopes will become the world’s premier environmental film extravaganza. Rachel then screened a cut from one film to be screened at the festival: Die 4. Revolution – Energy Autonomy. 

In closing

In the tradition of BC3, the Full Member Meeting was member-driven and provided a significant opportunity for network feedback. The bold and imaginative ideas set forth by participants in the Full Member Meeting set the stage for the next six months of climate action.