Community Climate Collaborative (C3) focuses on catalyzing climate action at the local level in cities across Virginia. We believe that business and non-profit participation in local goals is essential to making lasting progress. By stepping up on their own operations and adding their voice to our advocacy efforts, our commercial partners help bring the whole community together, for better health, better air quality, and a thriving local economy.
To support our business partners, we offer the following programs:
- Energy and Sustainability Services: we offer energy and sustainability assessments for all local businesses and non-profits, helping them create an action roadmap to cleaner operations and cost savings. In 2025, we completed assessments for over 40 partners in Charlottesville and Richmond!
- Energy Efficiency Grants: microbusinesses are eligible to receive up to $2,500 for energy efficiency upgrades, ranging from appliance replacements to smart thermostats to new light fixtures. In 2025, we granted a total of $20,000 to 12 microbusinesses, with a return-on-investment of just 4 years through energy savings!
- Green Business Alliance: this is our leadership circle of our most committed climate leaders. At 25 members strong, the GBA has collectively reduced its emissions by 40% from their baseline, diverting over 25,000 metric tons of GHG emissions since the group started in 2021. That’s the equivalent of 28M pounds of coal!
- Community events and education: we regularly speak at partner businesses and business networks to educate leaders and employees, and hold public events to inform and inspire our community. This was capped off in 2025 by our community screening of Beyond Zero, with over 200 in attendance!
- Local research: We have been working in Richmond to better understand the opportunities for action in the commercial sector. This was highlighted by two government-funded research projects in 2025, studying the built environment and the distributed solar market. This research will help inform outreach and strategy for new partnerships in 2026 and beyond.
A great synopsis of recent highlights in our year-end blog:
https://www.theclimatecollaborative.org/c3-blog/business-partnerships-2025-year-end-reflection
