VECAN Conference 2025
Conference Description:
The 18th Annual Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network (VECAN) Conference was a success! We are pleased to have hosted this inspiring and mobilizing in-person event at this critical time, and we hope to see you and other community energy and climate action leaders again soon.
With the new federal administration doubling down on its commitment to fossil fuels, the need for local and state leadership on climate action and clean energy issues has never been greater. Thankfully, Vermont has leadership – and an opportunity – from the local level to the State Legislature to collaborate in new and creative ways to meet this moment.
This 2025 VECAN conference honed in on three primary themes:
Strategically leveraging Vermont’s Climate Action Plan to cut pollution, enhance resiliency and achieve greater energy equity;
Highlighting and harnessing the many rich resources within some leading universities and colleges;
And continuing to strengthen the powerful role – and collaborations – among community energy and climate leaders.
Keynote: Bill McKibben — Here Comes the Sun — Next Steps for Local Leaders in the Climate Movement
VECAN Conference 2024
Conference Description:
On December 3rd, VECAN launches its annual Community Energy & Climate Action Conference by co-hosting an in-person Post Election Gathering with the Energy Action Network! This day-long event is a great opportunity for community energy leaders to get grounded in the state-of-the-state when it comes to energy and climate action in Vermont. Hear from state leaders, including state lawmakers, Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Public Utility Commission Chair Ed McNamara, Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore, and State Director for Senator Welch’s office, Rebecca Ellis. The day will offer the chance to discuss priorities and engage in conversation about new and emerging opportunities and challenges at the federal and state levels. A light breakfast and yummy lunch will also be provided.
A limited number of deeply discounted tickets – $40 – are available to community energy committee leaders in the VECAN network. Find out more here and also reach out to dfingas@vnrc.org to find out how to access the VECAN discount rate.
Please also mark your calendar for a series of ensuing virtual workshops as part of this annual event, from noon to 1:30 on December 4th, 5th, and 6th. We will be doing deep
dives into climate resilience strategies, pollution-reduction opportunities, federal efficiency programs, and wraps the week on December 6th with a peer-to-peer town energy committee success story showcase and virtual breakouts.
VECAN Conference 2022
VECAN Conference 2022 - Climate, Energy, and Environmental Justice: An Opportunity to Build an Equitable Transition Together
Conference Description:
This year’s Vermont Community Energy and Climate Action (VECAN) Conference was hosted virtually for the third year in a row. This conference aims to support and grow the statewide network of town energy committees and build the capacity and expertise of any Vermonter interested in being part of the solution to the climate crisis. Thanks to all involved!
Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are clear – it’s now or never when it comes to acting on climate. Both in Vermont and globally, however, we continue to fall behind in accelerating the equitable transformation required to avoid the worst consequences of a warming world.
There is a tremendous opportunity, though, and we need your help to seize it! With the development of the state’s Climate Action Plan, the state’s legal obligation to equitably reduce pollution, historic federal investments in climate, and more, together, we can chart a new course for Vermont. This year’s virtual conference was intended to ground us in what’s happening, what’s needed, and some of the exciting opportunities Vermonters can help advance and access to cut costs, cut carbon, and build an equitable clean energy transition.
VECAN Conference 2021
VECAN Conference 2021 - Celebrating the Power of Grassroots Climate Action
Conference Description:
The 14th Annual Vermont Energy and Climate Action Conference took place virtually for the second year in a row. This event centers and celebrates the critical role that Vermonters in every community play in moving our state to a cleaner, more efficient, affordable, and equitable energy future. This year’s event featured an overview of the federal, state, and local context for climate action, including the hot-off-the-presses Climate Action Plan, federal legislation, and local success stories. Starting December 6th, we hosted workshops on four key topics throughout the week. Thanks to those of you who joined us for a great series of events!
The five-day online series took place on December 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th.
VECAN Conference 2020
VECAN Conference 2020 - Community Energy & Climate Action Conference
Conference Description:
The 13th Annual Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network Community Energy and Climate Action Conference took place virtually this year. This event centered and celebrated the critical role that Vermonters in every community play in moving our state to a more clean, efficient, affordable and equitable energy future. This four-day event featured an overview of the federal, state, and local context for climate action, and big, timely, potentially transformative opportunities.
Saturday, December 5th – New federal, state, and local opportunities for climate action
Monday, December 7th – Five concurrent workshops on The State of Solar, Weatherization & Efficiency Funding, Transportation Opportunities, A Legislative Look Forward and Organizing and Communicating Virtually and Beyond
Wednesday, December 9th – A deep dive on energy equity co-hosted with Renewable Energy Vermont
Friday, December 11th – A special video message from VECAN Partners, regional networking roundtables, and a closing keynote from Congressman Peter Welch
VECAN Conference 2019
VECAN Conference 2019 - Meeting the Moment: Collectively Confronting the Climate Crisis
Conference Description:
Featuring 14 workshops and a dynamic keynote address from Maine Representative Chloe Maxmin, this year’s inspiring conference aimed at supporting and growing the statewide network of town energy committees and building the capacity and expertise of any Vermonter interested in being part of the solution to the climate crisis.
The day also offered unparalleled networking opportunities, both with local energy leaders as well as Vermont’s leading clean energy businesses, organizations, institutions, and state agency partners. There was ample opportunity to connect with and visit the tables of the sponsoring organizations, including solar installers, weatherization experts, financing and funding institutions, transportation innovators, nonprofit leaders, and many more.
Keynote: Chloe Maxmin - Growing a Climate Movement Rooted in Rural America
Chloe Maxmin, 27, is the Representative for the rural Maine House District 88. She ran for the Maine House of Representatives in 2018 in her hometown, winning her primary with 80% of the vote and the General Election with 52.4% of the vote, making her the first Democrat to win the District 88 seat. Chloe’s expertise and focus is on building a durable, values-based movement — with a particular focus on rural regions — to combat the climate crisis.
Chloe was raised on her family’s farm in Nobleboro, Maine, and has been a community organizer for 14 years. Chloe co-founded Divest Harvard – a campaign calling on Harvard University to divest from fossil fuels that ultimately drew 70,000 supporters. In 2015, after graduation from Harvard, Chloe returned to Maine. Prior to that, Chloe founded First Here, Then Everywhere to empower youth climate activists.
Her life-long climate activism has won her broad recognition. She is the recipient of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes and the Brower Youth Award, she was named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone and recognized by the Washington Post, CNN and many other news outlets for her leadership. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloemaxmin.
VECAN Conference 2018
VECAN Conference 2018 - Transforming Vermont's Energy Future From the Ground Up
Conference Description:
Over 300 people joined VECAN partners, town energy committee leaders from across Vermont, the state’s leading clean energy businesses, policy makers, and concerned Vermonters for another inspiring and action-oriented day geared towards doing far more to meet our 90 by 2050 total renewable energy goal. This year’s event offered some of the most timely, interesting workshops yet – from helping low income earners access clean energy solutions, to the latest in transportation innovation, and more. The day also included a framing panel, outlining where we stand on climate and clean energy in the state – and what the big and little leverage opportunities are to make needed progress.
Keynotes:
Bill McKibben - A Global Crisis: A State and Local Fight
Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who, in 2014, was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel.’ In 1989, Bill wrote The End of Nature – regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change – and he is the author of over a dozen more books. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement – incubated in Vermont – which has organized 20,000 rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. Bill, also a Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, was named by Foreign Policy to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe has said he is “probably America’s most important environmentalist.”
Michael Shank - From Apathy to Action: Motivating the Masses on Climate
Michael Shank, Ph.D., is the Communications Director for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, a group of international cities committed to achieving aggressive long-term carbon reduction goals, and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, a peer to-peer network of local government professionals from cities across the US and Canada dedicated to creating a healthier environment, economic prosperity, and increased social equity. His professional career includes leading press shops at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Climate Nexus and far beyond. Michael’s work to successfully engage some of the biggest cities across the nation to make clean energy and climate action a priority is a great example of what’s possible.
VECAN Conference 2017
It All Begins Here
VECAN Conference 2017 - Mobilizing Leadership to Make Bold Progress
Conference Description: VECAN’s 10th Annual “Community Energy and Climate Action Conference” on December 2nd, 2017, was an inspiring day. Local energy leaders, business innovators, policymakers, and others for a day focused on Transforming Vermont’s Energy Future from the Ground Up. The one-day conference featured informative workshops on Transforming Our Transportation System, Helping More Low-Income Earners Participate in the Clean Energy Transition,The Economic Opportunities of Climate Action, and more. The keynote speaker was Gina McCarthy, who served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama.
Keynote: Gina McCarthy has been a leading advocate for common-sense strategies to protect public health and the environment for more than 30 years, most recently serving as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama. At the EPA, Gina led historic progress to achieve the administration’s public health and environmental protection goals as well as its Climate Action Plan. In 2015, Gina signed the Clean Power Plan, which set the first-ever national standards for reducing carbon emissions from existing power plants, spurring international efforts that helped secure the Paris Climate Agreement. During her tenure, EPA initiatives cut air pollution, protected water resources, reduced greenhouse gases and strengthened chemical safety to better protect more Americans, especially the most vulnerable, from negative health impacts. Before joining EPA, she served five Massachusetts Democratic and Republican administrations and was Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. Currently, she is serving as a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics.
VECAN Conference 2016
VECAN Conference 2016 - Local Leadership, Local Action: Getting To 90 Percent Renewable By 2050
Conference Description:
Keynote:
VECAN Conference 2015
VECAN Conference 2015 - A Common Agenda: Transforming Vermont’s Energy Future
Conference Description: Growing numbers of people, businesses, communities, and institutions are investing in solar to save money, stabilize their electricity costs, and help combat climate change. There are a myriad of approaches — and some urgency to invest, as the 30 percent investment tax credit expires after 2016. This workshop will overview of various solar approaches and resources communities can tap to help move great projects forward, as well as some of the challenges that could stop or slow the deployment of solar. It will also highlight a particularly innovative, community-owned approach that several towns are replicating.
Keynote: Vermont’s Renewable Energy Transformation: An Economic Opportunity and Environmental Imperative
Richard Heinberg is a Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building more resilient, sustainable, and equitable communities. Richard is widely regarded as one of the world’s most effective communicators on the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels. He is a frequent presenter on radio, television, and in films, and the author of 12books, including The Party’s Over, The End of Growth, and Snake Oil. Richard has penned scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, The Ecologist, European Business Review, Yes!, and The Sun. Heoffers a wry, pragmatic, unflinching approach based on facts and realism. He will outline the tenuousness of our current way of life and provide a vision for a truly sustainable future. He will also highlight the economic and environmental opportunities provided by Vermont’s transition to a society powered by efficiency, renewables, and 21st-century transportation solutions.