The Bay Area · Hamilton · Burlington
We bring cross-sector leaders together to identify and implement the complex system changes required to reach net zero in the Bay Area.
Reaching net zero is not a problem any single organization can solve alone. The Bay Area Climate Change Council (BACCC) supports taking collective action across the region.
- Vision
- A thriving and resilient net zero Bay Area by 2050.
- Mission
- To catalyze action on the climate emergency.
- Methodology
- Informed by collective impact methodology, and a commitment to keep equity at the centre of the work.
- Supported by
- City of Hamilton, City of Burlington, Mohawk College
- Established
- 2017
01 — What BACCC is
A regional backbone for cross-sector climate action.
Led by a council of members, BACCC moves the needle by facilitating dialogue, building trust, and catalyzing action across sectors.
We convene working groups called implementation teams. These teams are made up of the local leaders who know their sectors and communities best, helping them work across organizations to turn shared priorities into coordinated action toward decarbonization.
BACCC holds responsibility for the process. Collective impact is the tool; coordinated action is the output.
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02 — Our Work
Our work concentrates on three sources of emissions, and on the energy that powers all three.
BACCC focuses on reducing emissions from the “Big 3” — industry, buildings, and transportation — recognizing that access to low-carbon energy is foundational to all three.
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01
Buildings
Emissions from how homes, institutions and commercial buildings across Hamilton and Burlington are heated, cooled and powered.
Live — Buildings Implementation Team
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02
Transportation
Emissions from how people and goods move within the Bay Area and across its shared boundary.
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03
Industry
Emissions from the region’s manufacturing and heavy industry, and from the process heat and power those operations depend on.
03 — Our Region
The Bay Area has a long history of working together to solve shared challenges
BACCC draws on its shared history of collaboration across the Bay to advance effective cross-sector climate action.
1970s — onward
A shared watershed
Hamilton and Burlington cleaned up Hamilton Harbour together, through the Remedial Action Plan. That effort continues today.
2017 — onward
A shared airshed
In 2017, the Mayors of Hamilton and Burlington looked at that history and drew the parallel: last time the shared problem was a watershed; this time it is an airshed.
BACCC’s Timeline
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2017
Two Mayors announce they will work together on the shared airshed. Consultation with roughly 900 organizations and individuals concludes that the region needs coordinated cross-sector action.
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2018
BACCC’s strategic council forms. BACCC releases a regional greenhouse gas inventory and emissions forecast, the baseline for both cities’ climate action plans.
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2020
BACCC develops its Theory of Change, targeting the “Big 3” largest sources of regional emissions: buildings, transportation, and industry.
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2021
BACCC launches its first implementation team, focused on transportation, and publishes the Options for Travel Report.
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Today
Implementation teams are reducing emissions across the Big 3 and driving the low-carbon energy transition. 2027 marks 10 years of collaboration.
A shared ecosystem, airshed, and economy, where reductions in emissions can benefit all Bay Area residents.
04 — Our Method
Our implementation teams are where the action happens on the ground.
Implementation teams are cross-sector working groups that bring together the leaders and organizations directly equipped to reduce emissions in buildings, transportation or industry — and to advance the low-carbon energy transition that underpins it all. Formed around specific projects, these teams adapt over time but always include leaders from multiple sectors to break down silos, build trust, and deliver durable solutions.
The value for implementation team members is coordination.
BACCC convenes the relevant group in a forum built for candour across sectors. Together, members arrive at a shared picture of who is already involved. We identify the critical barriers and opportunities to act together on known solutions. Where there is a significant opportunity for impact, BACCC continues to provide coordination and support for collective action.
05 — Our Council
Our greatest strength is the depth and breadth of our relationships
BACCC’s strategic council unites leaders from across the economic, environmental, and community spectrum. Most have sat at this table from day one. That sustained range of perspectives, held together by trust over years, is proof of our methodology in action. The council’s role is to set strategic direction and support the work of staff and our implementation teams.
Council members
- BurlingtonGreen Environmental Association
- Burlington Sustainable Development Committee
- Clean Air Hamilton
- Discover Burlington
- Environment Hamilton
- Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
- Hamilton Community Enterprises
- Hamilton Conservation Authority
- Hamilton Health Sciences
- Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association
- The Hamilton Regional Indian Centre
06 — Work with us
If your organization can help us get to net zero, let’s talk.
BACCC works with organizations across multiple sectors to catalyze climate action. Tell us where you are ready to act, and we will connect you with the implementation team already working on it.
That work is not private to the partners in the room. What comes out of an initiative — the research, the barriers named, what worked and what did not — is published openly, so that a municipality, a community organization or a resident can use it without having been at the table.
The goal is not simply to cut emissions. It is to build a Bay Area where cleaner air, affordable energy, comfortable buildings, and better transportation improve everyday life across the region.
