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April 12, 2022
About six months ago, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. At the time, just as climate negotiations in Glasgow had ended, the bipartisan package was heralded as proof that Congress could work together. But as far as its climate provisions are concerned, I’d written, “Even though there is a lot to like in the infrastructure bill, Congress has more work to do—much, much more work to do.”
A major emphasis of the Administration is to ensure that these investments advance environmental justice goals, and Congress is keeping watch.
You helped bring together a panel of climate justice activists to take stock of the Administration’s Justice40 commitment, which sets the first whole-of-government target for climate and clean energy investments in Black, Indigenous, people of color, and low-income communities.
You and I know that climate change has been with us for decades. The latest U.N. report makes it clear that the time for procrastination is long past (see our frontpage article). EESI decided in 1988—when Ronald Reagan was president!—that all our work needs to be viewed through the lens of climate change. Yet talk about equitable climate solutions on Capitol Hill still outpaces action.
Your commitment helps policymakers and the public understand that new infrastructure investments must advance environmental justice. We have to get this right; there can be no do-overs.
Thank you for your continued commitment to advancing equitable climate solutions.
-Daniel Bresette, Executive Director
A cleaner and more resilient grid combined with major advancements in cost-effective electric technologies makes it a good time to transition our heating systems, electric vehicles, and other end-use applications to electricity. The process of adopting electric upgrades that result in consumer savings and reduced emissions is called "beneficial electrification."
To help electric utilities provide these opportunities so their customers can benefit, EESI is developing the Beneficial Electrification Toolkit. The Toolkit will help utilities create programs that generate savings for customers while reducing emissions, improving comfort and quality-of-life, and strengthening the grid. The first-of-its-kind Toolkit also provides case studies of programs already underway, including some that feature on-bill financing to help make improvements more affordable.
The Beneficial Electrification Toolkit will be a free resource to help utilities and stakeholders turn an interest in beneficial electrification into a successful, accessible, and equitable program.
The science is clear: climate change is already impacting our lives—and things risk getting much worse. United Nations reports released in February and April are unequivocal in their findings—climate change presents a grave threat to humans and ecosystems. The climate crisis has already brought about extinctions and contributed to the death of one in five trees in North America. As temperatures rise, so do sea levels, a hazard for coastal and island communities worldwide. Low-income communities that contribute the least to climate change are the most vulnerable to climate risks and in the greatest need of adaptation solutions.
Yet the key message is not one of despair, but of urgency. Both adaptation and mitigation are needed—fast. Equitable climate change solutions help us meet other key goals such as reducing poverty, ensuring gender equality, and advancing sustainable development.
EESI’s internship program provides substantive experience for college students. Hired separately as communications and development interns for spring 2020, Phoebe and Uma were already best friends from George Washington University when they started at EESI. Later, they both were hired by Nexamp, a community solar organization in Massachusetts.
“The support system EESI's staff provided helped me charge through the tough transition of graduating and landing a job. My internship at EESI gave me a lot of practice being a flexible, effective communicator. Writing articles and creating social media content taught me how to relay complicated environmental and energy policy issues to the everyday person. Without EESI, I would not have the skills, perspective, or drive that I have now.” -Uma Atre, EESI Communications Intern
“The skills I learned as a development intern at EESI enabled me to pursue my current career. EESI taught me how to be more diligent and efficient with my time, how to prioritize my work, and also to dive deeper into the things I’m interested in….I recognize how much I learned about the field of nonprofit development and the incredibly necessary, but always challenging, work of policy advocacy. I also recognize how much I grew as a person, coming in with little confidence in my professionalism; I left feeling more self-confident.” -Phoebe Bride, EESI Development Intern
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