You’ve heard of “green washing”: creating an environmentally sound image that is a false or a only surface deep in order to deceive consumers, voters, or policy-makers. Like solar panels powering the lights in a coal plant.
Woke washing? That’s the newly coined term for performative equity-promoting actions that get good press but fail to address systemic racism, gender disparities, and the ongoing marginalization of communities.
Woke washing is most commonly associated with the world of brand marketing: for example, when Nike announced that Colin Kaepernick would be the face of their new campaign in 2018 (after he was barred by the NFL for his peaceful protests against racial injustice), Nike was simultaneously facing allegations about its sweatshop conditions in developing countries as well as allegations that its corporate culture was misogynistic and toxic.
In the energy planning field, we see woke washing when well-intentioned energy policies that reduce greenhouse gases are assumed to enhance equity because poor communities will suffer the worst damages of future climate change and, therefore, any policy that addresses climate change must be good for equity.
We see woke washing when energy efficiency and renewable energy incentives are offered in the form of loans that poor households and households with bad credit can’t access, or in the form of rebates that require a substantial upfront capital investment that only richer households can afford.
We see woke washing when emission reduction programs focus on electric vehicles and homeowner benefits that lower costs for wealthier, whiter households while excluding lower-income households, bus-riders, and renters.
For example, in Massachusetts, the MOR-EV program (which pays rebates up to $2,500 for the purchase or lease of a new electric vehicle) has primarily benefited households living in the wealthiest areas of the Commonwealth. Almost 80 percent of MOR-EV rebates have gone to communities where the household income is higher than the state median; only 9 percent went to communities where the household income is lower than the state median. In addition, a full third of the program’s total expenditures supported the purchase of Tesla vehicles—a luxury car.
Achieving true climate equity means remedying the disproportionate effects of climate change and accounting for historical disparities that create vulnerability in the first place. The best way to develop a deep understanding of disparities, inequities, and burdens is to hear from those affected by them by giving them a meaningful role in decision-making. Achieving true climate equity also means being transparent about progress and/or backsliding as the case may be, and remaining accountable to equity goals and the public at large.
Dr. Liz Stanton Director and Senior Economist
Dr. Bryndis Woods Senior Researcher
This is a part of the AEC Blog series