In early November, the EcoBlock team participated in the 2025 Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change (BECC) Conference in Sacramento, CA, spearheading critical conversations on policy innovation and community-driven action informed by years of project-based insight.
Central to the team’s involvement were two high-impact sessions. The first, titled “Supporting the Clean Energy Transition: The Role of Workforce Development in Decarbonizing Buildings,” examined the key barriers, opportunities, and best practices for implementing effective workforce development in commercial and residential buildings. This was followed by a panel discussion, “Toward a Just Clean Energy Transition: Challenges with Decarbonizing Communities.”
Participants discuss strategies to advance community-led decarbonization. Credit: California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE), CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, UC Berkeley
The team also organized an interactive post-conference workshop titled “Community-Led Decarbonization: Behavioral Opportunities and Barriers,” in partnership with the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and the Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports (LAET) in France. The event drew over 40 city officials, researchers, community leaders, and policymakers from across the U.S. and abroad, who exchanged cross-regional lessons and strategies for advancing local decarbonization.