Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city with over 120,000 residents located in the San Francisco Bay Area that has long been a leader in local climate action. Berkeley committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2045 and becoming a fossil fuel-free city as soon as possible. Berkeley is also committed to increasing equity and affordability for its residents, and is integrating social and racial equity goals into its Resilience Strategy, Strategic Plan, and Wellness Blueprint Project. By 2026, Berkeley will update its General Plan with an Environmental Justice Element.

Berkeley Programs, Policies, and Strategies

BEI began working with Berkeley in 2019, completing a Building and Housing Stock Analysis in 2020 that identifies the health, resiliency, and affordability needs of its building stock. In 2021, Berkeley used this research to inform its Existing Building Electrification Strategy, which lays out strategies and community considerations for how to equitably transition all Berkeley buildings off of fossil fuels. To support the City’s efforts to develop and fund implementable solutions, BEI completed a Residential Funding Gap Analysis in 2023 that analyzes the potential for stacking multiple incentives and the gaps that remain to fully electrify residential buildings – including the investments needed for health, safety, and electric readiness upgrades that often need to be completed prior to electrification. 

In 2024 and 2025, BEI provided policy development support and technical analysis to underpin an update to Berkeley’s Building Emission Savings Ordinance (BESO) to include retrofit requirements at the time-of-sale. The update was approved by Council in April 2025 and went into effect in January 2026. BEI also supported Berkeley to identify and elevate lessons learned from the on-the-ground implementation of its Climate Equity Fund and a two-year, $1.5 million Just Transition Pilot designed to identify high road workforce opportunities through building retrofit project aggregation.

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Regional Programs, Policies, and Strategies

Given the strong climate leadership of the broader San Francisco Bay Area, BEI is also supporting partners working at the regional level. This includes participating in a regional High Road Training Partnership focused on improving job quality for building decarbonization workers, increasing access to good jobs, and opening new economic opportunities for minority- and women-owned contractors in the region. BEI has led regional conversations on how to advance regional Retrofit Navigators and help low- and moderate-income households prepare for implementation of the Bay Area Air District’s appliance emissions standards, which will phase out the purchase and installation of NOx-emitting gas-fired water heaters and furnaces across the region beginning in 2027. BEI continues to work in coalition with workforce, environmental, housing, and environmental justice groups to advise on the implementation of the statewide Equitable Building Decarbonization program, which has received both state and federal funding.  

Berkeley's leadership has helped inspire regional collaboration across the Bay Area, the state of California, and dozens of cities across the country that are advancing ambitious and equitable building decarbonization policies and strategies – a testament to how leading local governments can shepherd change nationwide.