For equitable building electrification, philanthropy-backed fund puts communities in the driver’s seat

Source: Smart Cities Dive By Maria Rachal, Editor

Who designs the energy transition? As cities work to reduce building emissions, environmental justice organizers and energy affordability advocates seek to elevate community voices.

City residents that could be most impacted by decarbonization policies may not be part of the conversation as they’re developed. The creators of the Equitable Building Electrification Fund believe that decision-making power in the energy transition needs to shift.

The fund was formed by environmental justice organizers and energy affordability advocates and is backed by philanthropies, including the cities-focused Kresge Foundation. It awards money to community-based organizations working to support people impacted by pollution and for whom the cost and process of electrifying are burdensome. While recent federal actions like the Inflation Reduction Act added some financial breaks and incentives for property owners to decarbonize their homes, barriers remain.

Jackson Koeppel, a member of the fund’s governance assembly, said it’s “filling the gap” between implementing emerging technologies and the communities most in need of their benefits.

The fund’s model is to put decision-making power in the hands of frontline communities, Koeppel said, “because the design of the actual solutions and implementation is going to be most effective when the communities where the implementation is supposed to happen are actually at the table.” Local governments often create decarbonization policies without enough attention to implementation, particularly “how it will be implemented in an equitable manner,” Koeppel said.

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Chelsea McCullough