Take a Climate Crisis...
2008 legislation commits Massachusetts to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020. State officials know they need to start with energy efficiency, where proven technology and quick savings can buy time for slower more expensive steps. However, the state's new laws leave energy efficiency programs in the hands of utility companies, which have been administering them for the past 32 years.
Massachusetts's federally subsidized low-income weatherization programs are very well run. Otherwise, the results have been underwhelming. Energy efficiency savings are under 1% a year and are actually canceled out by growth in electrical demand. This means the state's fossil fuel use is rising, not falling. The state Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC) could never meet its climate goals, let alone create good green jobs or retrofit entire low-income communities. They were in a box named Business As Usual.
Their path out of the box came from an unexpected source: the most marginalized communities in the state.
Add an Economic and Environmental Justice Crisis...
In December 2008, labor unions and community-based organizations joined forces with environmental and faith groups to form the Green Justice Coalition. We told the EEAC: you can meet your climate change goals and more if you...
Find up-front financing so residents can pay for home efficiency work...
Pay community-based organizations that residents know and trust to do energy efficiency outreach in their neighborhoods...
Sign up hundreds of residents for home retrofits and "bundle" those together into a single contract...
So well-paid, well-trained workers can do the work through a high-road contractor.
...And You Get the Green Justice Solution
All these ideas are being implemented by our sister organizations across the country, and we owe them an enormous debt for blazing the trail. In Massachusetts, we have combined them in a single model that unites the power of communities and unions. The state's utility companies have written Environmental Justice Communities into their three-year plans, which they will start implementing in two months. Finally, the EEAC has earmarked $1.4 billion in ratepayer fees and other funds to multiply the utilities' energy efficiency savings.
Under the new plans, the utilities will work with the Green Justice Coalition and:
Pay for "Community Mobilization Initiatives" - intensive, door-to-door outreach campaigns that sign up hundreds of low-to-moderate-income residents for high-quality home retrofits.
Find up-front financing so residents can afford "deep" retrofits, save more money and energy.
Make sure retrofit contractors hire community residents for "good green jobs" with livable wages, benefits, proper job classification, and training for lifelong careers.
A Testament to Base-Building
Without grassroots intervention, the Green Economy would pass us by. Energy efficiency programs would reach few people in our communities. Those they did reach couldn't afford the up-front costs. And they certainly wouldn't get hired to do the retrofit work. The New Green Economy would be Business As Usual.
The Green Justice Coalition changed this story by mobilizing coalition members' base for EEAC hearings, surveying lower-income neighborhoods, and gathering thousands of cards supporting our key demands. We visited all the EEAC members and got the most sympathetic to carry our demands into backroom negotiations. We met with utility executives and showed them how we could multiply their efficiency work.
Now we're going to implement our pilots and make sure they expand to the entire state.