Environmental Justice Advisory Board
CGC’s Commitment to Environmental Justice
CGC is continuing and deepening its commitment to energy and environmental justice, ensuring access, health, ownership, and economic benefits for all. Fossil fuel pollution especially burdens low-income and disadvantaged communities (LIDAC’s), and our objective is to maximize the reduction of greenhouse gas air pollution in these communities, expanding access to cheap, clean energy while creating new jobs.
Our vision of success demonstrates that rapid deployment of clean technology in LIDAC communities can accelerate clean energy adoption for the nation and the world.
Environmental Justice Advisory Board
In February 2022, CGC announced its inaugural Environmental Justice Advisory Board. Formed under the recommendation of CGC’s (then) Chief Consultant of Environmental Justice and Equity, William J. Barber III, and CGC former Executive Director Jeff Schub, the inaugural board was created to work with the CGC team in developing a theory of change for BIPOC and LIDAC engagement consistent with deepening commitments to equity and energy justice.
CGC’s Inaugural Environmental Justice Advisory Board (EJAB) has:
- Built on The American Green Bank’s Consortium’s strong foundation of servicing LIDAC communities, to assist in developing a theory of change that embraces a just transition within the National Green Bank business model.
- Through education and partnership recruitment, working to investigate strategies to identify LIDAC communities not just as new markets, but as partners/owners to work with the national green bank.
- Enumerating our collective call to action, specifically to ensure clean tech is affordable and accessible.
- Helping champion our vision for a clean energy push that prioritizes frontline America.
Meet CGC’s EJAB
Priorities for the Board include:
- Investigating alternate underwriting criteria and financial models that allow for enhanced deployment of clean energy tech to frontline communities;
- Identifying new metrics for program deployment that take into account equity considerations such as diversity in clean energy workforce development;
- Alleviating energy burden for households, and expanding access to direct benefits associated with clean tech;
- Establishing an internal accountability structure to ensure CGC continues and strengthens its commitments to environmental justice;
- Engaging a broad network of organizations with track records of serving LIDAC and indigenous constituencies in frontline areas.