Second annual Climate Justice Forum focuses on progress, locally and nationally

Against the backdrop of New York City Climate Week, leading environmental experts and national climate advisors gathered at the second annual Climate Justice Forum Tuesday, to discuss tackling climate change, both on a local and national level.

Ali Zaidi, Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor delivered a keynote address at the event sponsored by Rise Light & Power, We Act for Environmental Justice and the NAACP Housing Authority Branch, updating attendees on the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Calling it a “climate comeback,” Zaidi highlighted the administration’s progress building 100 gigawatts of clean energy over the last three years, with plans to expand capacity to electrical grids this year – 96% of which will be generated with clean power. This expansion has added 250,000 American energy jobs since last year, according to Zaidi. 

“Clean Energy grew twice as fast as the rest of the sector, and it had two times the union density as the rest of the private sector. So this is a chance to lift folks up, not just into a job that will go away, but a career with which they can sustain a family,” Zaidi told attendees at MOMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, where the event was held and presented by City & State.

Zaidi also unveiled updates on the administration’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to deploy incentives to improve climate resilience through rebuilding forests, strengthening shoreline infrastructure in flood-vulnerable communities and more. 

“For the first time, in the tax code wired into the very DNA of our incentives as a country, we're giving folks more money if they deploy in the communities that have been left out and left behind,” he said. “More tax credit if they go to the places that have seen job loss because of deindustrialization and power plant transition. And you can't get the full tax credit if you don't pay a prevailing wage and hire 10% of your labor hours from apprenticeships.”

Noting climate change’s disproportionate impact on historically underserved BIPOC communities, Zaidi followed on the administration’s plans to create more green spaces in overheated Black and brown urban communities. “It's important for us to go back to basics and call out what's fair and what's not, what's good and what's bad, and where we see injustice and an opportunity to fix it,” Zaidi said. “We all know that it's not justice when it's literally hotter in communities that have been redlined: a product of historically racist housing policies. And that's why we're taking action – $1.5 billion dollars in the inflation Reduction Act to plant trees in those very communities.”

Zaidi’s sentiments were echoed by keynote speaker Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, who underlined the legacy of racial segregation and its impact on BIPOC communities who experience high levels of pollution from fossil fuels.

According to Shepherd, Black New Yorkers are twice as likely to die from heat related illnesses compared to white New Yorkers. Nationally, 61% of African Americans live in areas that fail to meet air quality standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, with African Americans being three times more likely to die from asthma related illnesses, of which African American children are 10 times more likely to die from asthma than white children. While income is a driving factor of these disparities, Shepherd stressed that race tends to play a greater role in determining exposure to pollution. 

“Studies show that a black family with an annual income of $87,500 is likely to live with more pollution than a white family making $22,500 a year,” said Shepherd. “This environmental justice crisis results from a legacy of housing segregation, land use and zoning discrimination and inequitable environmental law enforcement. In the early 20th century, local and federal officials enacted policies like redlining that reenforced racial segregation in cities and really diverted investment away from minority neighborhoods – they've become dumping grounds, sacrifice zones for a diversity of pollution that continues to be permitted by state and federal governments.” 

Calling for an “equitable transition” model into clean renewable energy, Shepherd stressed the need for proactive solutions and unified policymaking that empowered BIPOC communities. 

“So it's now time for their fair share benefit, and that's what we mean by just an equitable transition. Now this transition will require a comprehensive all hands on deck reimagining of our economy,” said Shepherd. “It’s time for some frank dialogue to understand diverse perspectives and to propose solutions that advance environmental and climate justice, because we've got to ensure that no community is left behind, and we won't go back. I think one tough lady has been saying that on TV – we won't go back.” 

To this, Clint Plummer, CEO of Rise Light and Power – operator of the Renewable Ravenswood generating station, the city’s largest power generation facility – vowed to find solutions to shift the city’s 80% reliance on fossil fuels to clean energy, despite the city’s limited transmission grid.

“The status quo is no longer an option,” said Plummer. “We can't just continue to rely on the things that have been there in the past, because we're facing a significant amount of growth in the electricity grid. These are good things for our economy, but it puts more burden on the power generating sector, and that's coming at a time when the electric generating infrastructure in New York City is 60 years olds or older, and so we're at a point where our city faces very significant challenges and substantive choices about what kind of a future we want.” 

As Renewable Ravenswood employs a sizable union workforce, Plummer stressed the importance of adding more jobs through the green economy. In order to ensure that these green jobs are made accessible to communities, 

A panelist at the event and mayoral candidate, state Sen. Jessica Ramos said she was aiming to “greenify” industries, through a “union climate economy”. 

“We are all going to play a role in helping build what I call the “union climate economy”. I'm just a big believer that [this] will also help us crawl out of the pandemic and make sure that there is an economic recovery that is inclusive of everyone,” said Ramos. She also added plans to create youth workforce pipelines through Summer Youth Employment Programs and apprenticeships.