Submit a Speaking Abstract

Submission deadline: April 1, 2025 (Authors will be notified of acceptance in early summer)

Conference Dates: November 2-5, 2025, Sacramento, CA

Imagine a low-carbon future with healthy air quality, fewer climate disasters, and affordable and resilient energy. How do we get there? The focus of this year’s BECC conference is on Energizing a Future for All — what are the ideas, policies, and methods of changing behavior towards a clean energy future? Since 2007, the BECC community has applied behavioral research and practice to foster individual and organizational change. Our biennial conference takes place this year November 2-5, 2025, in Sacramento, CA, where we gather to collaborate and share innovative behavioral solutions.

BECC invites you to share your work and learn from others. How can we continue to strategize ways to change behavior that reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions? How do we manage the shift in both individual and organizational behavioral change? How do these deliberate disruptions affect how we evaluate behavior-change programs? How can we drive positive transitions for all? These questions will guide our 2025 conference. BECC participants and presenters represent a variety of backgrounds and communities (research, academia, business, consultants, utilities, government, and the nonprofit sector).

This year’s theme: Energizing a Future for All

Topic Areas

BECC accepts abstracts in eight topic areas.

1. Behavior-based Programs 2. Climate Change
  • Commercial and Industrial Programs
  • Residential Programs, including Grid Flexibility Programs
  • Sustainability Programs and Strategies
  • Program Design
  • Evaluation
  • Resilience and Adaptation
  • Models and Metrics
3. Equity & Empowerment 4. Policy
  • Equity and Environmental Justice
  • Social Movements and Culture Change
  • Priority Population Programs and Policies
  • Federal, State, and Local Government Policy
  • Utility Policy
  • Market Transformation
  • Encouraging Policy Support
5. Social Science Insights (Psychology, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology) 6. Sustainable Consumption and Production
  • Individual Residential Behavior Change
  • Organizational and Institutional Behavior Change
  • Transportation/Mobility Behavior Change
  • Climate Change Communications
  • Marketing
  • Circular Economy
  • Food-Water-Waste Nexus
  • Consumption-Based Carbon Inventories
  • Supply Chain Management
7. Technology, Electrification and Renewables 8. Transportation
  • Technology and Innovation
  • AI, Machine Learning, or Large Language Model Applications
  • Renewables
  • Electrification
  • New Mobility
  • EV Adoption
  • Transportation Demand Management

Format options:

  • Individual presentation – these presentations will be grouped together with other speakers in a single 60–75-minute session
  • Poster – presented during a poster reception and will remain on display throughout the conference.
  • Symposium or Panel Discussion – presented as a group and considered a single submission
  • Other – skill-building sessions, fireside chats, arts-based sessions, etc.

Pre/Post-Conference Workshops

Stay tuned for a call for sponsored Workshops (2–6 hour sessions before or after the conference) in June!

Review Criteria

  • Is the submission description well-written and of high quality?
  • Is the topic new and original?
  • Will the topic be interesting to a general audience or more niche?
  • How much focus is on behavior?
  • Does the work reflect practical significance or impact?
  • Does the topic address equity or underserved populations?
  • Does the submission include diverse speakers/panelists?

Priority will be given to new work with empirical results not been broadly published elsewhere, related to the conference theme and that engages wider, more diverse perspectives.