David Behar
PEERS Chair and Climate Program Director at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
David Behar is Climate Program Director at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and Chair of PEERS. His professional focus is on adaptation practice, science translation, and collaboration building. David co-founded the Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) and served as first chair from 2007-11. In 2013-14 he chaired San Francisco’s first Sea Level Rise Committee, which created “Guidance for Incorporating Sea Level Rise into Capital Planning;” this guidance won awards from the American Society of Adaptation Professionals and the Floodplain Management Association. He co-founded the Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network in 2018 and served as founding chair. He co-chaired the Sea Level Rise Grand Challenge Committee of the World Climate Research Programme from 2020-2022 and the WCRPs “Sea Level 2022: Advancing Science, Connecting Society” conference in Singapore. In 2021-22, he led development of global practitioner workshops on coastal resilience that helped frame the need for a coastal resilience community of practice, leading to the founding of PEERS. He has co-authored peer review journal articles focused on actionable science and climate adaptation in Earth’s Future, Science, Conservation Letters, Climate Services, and Nature Communications Earth and Environment. He has a bachelor’s degree in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
