Bay Area Air Quality Management District

Following the adoption of BARC's Joint Resolution to Address Climate Change in September of 2021, cross-agency working groups from BARC's member agencies have begun the process of developing a Shared Work Plan, which will strategically align agency planning and regulatory initiatives within a 1-5 year time frame in order to accelerate the implementation of specific strategies that advance shared climate mitigation and adaptation goals. 

On September 17th, 2021, the BARC Governing Board unanimously approved a Joint Resolution to Address Climate Change, through which its member agencies committed to working with BARC staff to develop a Shared Work Plan that will advance coordinated implementation of some of the highest-priority actions identified in the key regional agency plans and platforms over the next one to five years.

On May 5th, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to examine ways to continue to encourage telecommuting after the COVID-19 crisis ends, recognizing the benefits of improved air quality and reduced congestion that the Bay Area has experienced since shelter-in-place policies began and many employees began working from home.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in its latest guidelines for the re-opening of office buildings, has proposed that employers incentivize single-occupancy driving to reduce the spread of COVID-19-- a recommendation that flies in the face of both climate change policies and recent experiences in transit-rich cities around the world, which have kept infection rates low by promoting widespread mask use on trains and buses, even as transit ridership remains high. 

A recent article in HuffPost highlights West Oakland's struggle for cleaner air through a community-driven effort to reduce air pollution, and the challenges that Covid-19 creates for its residents -- both through reduced state funding for its efforts, as well as the direct public health risks that it presents to people who are already vulnerable due to air pollution exposure.