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0Open MenuOpen MenuCalling for a Just, Clean Transition Part One: Energy Justice What does the term energy justice” mean to you? And who do you envision being impacted by calls for energy equity”? This Calling for a Just, Clean Transition report builds on prior versions of ’s Clean Energy Calling Reports , which analyzed renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of the major telecommunications companies, ATT, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Calling for a Just, Clean Transition consists of two parts: part one covers the disproportionate damage caused by fossil fuels to historically disinvested communities and the climate and delves into the goals of the energy justice movement, including working to ensure that the benefits of the transition to clean energy accrue to those most harmed by fossil fuels. Part two investigates the status of clean energy use by the major telecom companies and ventures to assess the performance of their energy procurement on key principles of energy justice. In Calling for a Just Transition, Part 1 , we discuss the challenges to stabilizing our global climate and actions needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, focusing on emissions stemming from the production of electricity, which accounts for 25% of climate change-inducing pollution. ¹ We discuss how the production of dirty energy harms people in disinvested communities - especially Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities - and highlight the need to rectify these generational harms and support communities in benefiting from the transition to a clean energy economy. In keeping with ’s mission to harness economic power by holding corporate actors accountable, this report aims to catalyze climate advocacy which prioritizes equity as central to, and embedded in, any definition of success for climate progress. Without meaningful efforts to ameliorate injustices relative to climate and energy, climate action risks ignoring opportunities to rectify harms to communities burdened by legacies of injustice and misses the mark on fully advancing societal good. Table of Contents Why Energy Justice? The Climate Crisis: Code Red Renewable Energy: A Source of Hope No False Solutions: Greenwashing and Authenticity in Clean Energy Renewables on the Rise Energy and Equity: An Overview Dirty Power Production Overly Impacts Frontline Communities at the Local Scale Climate Change Impacts are Harder on Disinvested Communities Inequitable Energy Burdens: Paying More for Less Clean Energy Economy Cannot Exclude WomenCommunities of Color Companies Can Make a Difference to Foster Energy Justice Voices From the Energy Justice Movement Breaking Barriers: Creating Resilience in Burdened Communities Coalition for Community Solar Access: Expanding Distributed Energy to Foster Energy Equity Where Do the Telecoms Fit Into This Picture? Energy Sourcing: Where the Rubber Meets the Road ’s List of Criteria for Request for Proposal s Acknowledgements Lead Author Elizabeth Silleck La Rue, Silleck Consulting Services, LLC Contributing Authors, Editors, and Designers Beth Porter, Climate Campaigns Director, Brooke Bennett, Campaigns Associate, Alec Badalov, Digital DesignCommunications Specialist, Todd Larsen, Executive Co-Director, Shireen Karimi, Director of Digital Communications, Eleanor Greene, Editor in Chief, Interviews Olivia Nedd, Policy Director, AccessEquity Program, Vote Solar Jasmine Graham, Energy Justice Policy Manager, WE ACT for Environmental Justice (WE ACT) Chandra Farley, Resolve Consulting and Founder of the Good Energy Project Matt Hagarten, Vice President of Campaigns, Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) Leslie Elder, Mid-Atlantic Director, Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) Why Energy Justice? As we strive for a world that reverses course on environmental degradation and paves a sustainable path forward, our recipe cannot treat equity as an add-on. Equity - or inequity - is the broth in the stew, either resulting in a hearty meal with benefits for all, or a sour brew which feeds some while poisoning the rest of us. The shift to clean energy provides enormous environmental and social benefits as compared to fossil fuels – environmental, health, and economic. At the same time, women and disinvested communities are not benefiting equally from the rapid shift to clean energy in the US. In this report: We hear from voices in the energy justice movement in case studies highlighting professionals working on the front lines to advance equitable, clean energy initiatives. We unveil a list of social justice criteria we urge companies to include in clean energy contracts. These criteria will help to assess the extent to which electric power production aims to rectify racial, gender, and other inequities resulting from energy production and within the energy sector, reduce environmental harms, and support workers’ rights. We aim to raise the bar for energy companies seeking reputations as corporate stewards and shine a bright light on energy equity issues, so energy producers are compelled to prioritize them. Clean Energy Benefits for People and the Planet The transition from fossil fuels to truly clean energy (solar and wind) will create enormous environmental and public health benefits. Fossil fuels-linked air pollution causes 355,000 premature deaths per year in the US, and disinvested communities - specifically Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities - bear the brunt of this, with Black Americans experiencing 1.54 times the exposure to particulate matter compared to the population overall. ² Natural gas, touted by the fossil fuel industry and its supporters as being cleaner than coal, is nearly as bad as coal. Natural gas combustion results in elevated risks of cancer and other health risks for populations living near wells, and methane pollution that has over 80 times the global warming potential of CO2 over a 20-year period. ³ The transition to clean energy is also resulting in better energy industry jobs overall. A recent report, Clean Jobs, Better Jobs , found that clean energy jobs on average pay an hourly wage that is roughly 25 percent higher than the median, and that clean energy jobs pay more than fossil fuel jobs. Jobs in the clean energy sector are also more likely to be unionized than in the economy overall – although there is ample room for growth – which leads to better pay and benefits. ⁴ Clean energy jobs also employ more people; three times as many as fossil fuel extraction and generation. ⁵ The transition to clean energy is creating clear benefits for workers and communities. The challenge now is to ensure that those benefits are equitably distributed to the most disinvested communities and people who were, and continue to be, most negatively impacted by our decades-long reliance on fossil fuels. Like the energy sector overall, people of color - Black, Latino, and Indigenous people in particular - and women across races are underrepresented in clean energy jobs so far. Communities where clean energy projects are installed may not see lower electric rates or other direct benefits from the installation. As the country increasingly transitions to wind and solar power, it is essential that equity considerations are kept front and center. Telecoms and Clean Energy Part two of the report (slated for publication in spring 2022) will assess the major telecom companies’ progress towards clean energy and energy justice. The evaluation will examine the three largest telecom companies - Verizon, T-Mobile, and ATT - concerning their greenhouse gas emissions, and the extent to which the electricity they purchase is generated by companies leading (or lagging) on selected energy justice markers. Starting in 2017, ’s Hang Up on Fossil Fuels campaign has urged the three largest telecoms to rapidly transition to renewable energy, and in response, they’ve made some of the largest corporate purchases...