Equity and Environmental Justice Guidance and Recommendations

Client: the Nature Conservancy

Author: Bryndis Woods, PhD

March 2024

On behalf of the Nature Conservancy (TNC), AEC Principal Analyst Bryndis Woods, PhD provided equity and environmental justice guidance and support to TNC Northeast (and New York) Division’s government relations staff. As part of this work, AEC provided an equity and environmental justice organization library and a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) library that includes DEIJ Action Plans, Implementation Guides, Strategy Frameworks, and other related equity, environmental and social justice materials. Informed by the results of AEC’s engagement with TNC staff, Dr. Woods made nine recommendations to guide TNC staff to center and prioritize equity and justice in their work.

Link to Presentation

Link to Guidance

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Impact of Refinery Row on the City of Corpus Christi

Client: Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend

Authors: Tanya Stasio, PhD, Sachin Peddada, Elisabeth Seliga, Jordan Burt, Liz Stanton, PhD

March 2023

On behalf of the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend (IPCB), this Applied Economics Clinic (AEC) report summarizes the economic impact of the petroleum industry in Nueces County, Texas and the negative impacts of the polluting facilities located in the City of Corpus Christi and its “Refinery Row” district. While major petroleum companies have promised economic benefits, Corpus Christi's petroleum refineries employ less than 2 percent of the City's workforce. In the absence of more stringent reporting requirements and enforcement actions, Refinery Row releases high levels of harmful pollutants with minor consequences while nearby neighborhoods suffer higher rates of asthma and cancer prevalence rates than other areas in Corpus Christi. 

This report was funded through AEC's Pro Bono Fund, which provides pro bono analysis, research, testimony, policy briefs, or detailed reports to Environmental Justice groups on topics including energy economics, climate and other environmental impacts, and diversity, equity, and inclusion analysis.

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Comparing Connecticut's Electric Vehicle Charging Program with Others from around the United States

Prepared on behalf of Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Sachin Peddada, Jay Bonner, Liz Stanton, PhD

March 2023

On behalf of the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel, this Applied Economics Clinic (AEC) white paper reviews the potential for electric vehicle (EV) charging programs to provide net benefits to consumers in Connecticut and fourteen other states. AEC finds that Connecticut’s EV charging programs are well-positioned to provide net benefits to consumers and meet the state’s EV and electric vehicle supply equipment deployment goals. Connecticut stands out as a leader due to the detailed nature of its EV and EV charging deployment goals, the inclusion of alternative rate structures to incentivize public EV charging stations, the availability of incentives to cover up to 100 percent of EV charging “make-ready” costs, and enhanced incentives for underserved communities (inclusive of low-income populations). AEC also finds, however, that Connecticut’s EV charging program could be strengthened by adopting best practices from other states’ programs, such as by setting more ambitious EV and EV charging deployment goals, working to target EV charging in as equitable a fashion as possible, and by offering ongoing incentives for EV charging.

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Electric Justice: A Toolkit for the Mid-Atlantic Region

Prepared on behalf of PJM Cities and Communities Coalition

Authors: Tanya Stasio, PhD, Elisabeth Seliga, Sachin Peddada, Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD

Energy decisions affect everyone, but local communities and businesses often lack the time and resources needed to engage in grid operator decision-making. On behalf of the PJM Cities and Communities Coalition, AEC Researcher Tanya Stasio, PhD, Assistant Researchers Elisabeth Seliga and Sachin Peddada, and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD developed a report to assist coalition members and other consumer groups in advocating for greater equity in PJM Interconnection decision-making. This resource was developed with the invaluable input of representatives of organizations that sponsored the Fix the Grid campaign in New England, which is focused on rejecting fossil fuels and calling for a just and democratic energy grid.

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Cumulative Impact Assessment of the North Brooklyn Pipeline Project

Prepared on behalf of Sane Energy and Alliance for a Green Economy

Author: Tanya Stasio, PhD, Jordan Burt, Elisabeth Seliga, Sachin Peddada, Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD

The National Grid Phase 5 expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure and the Vaporizer 13/14 project at the Greenpoint Energy Center create a multi-pronged set of threats to the North Brooklyn communities.

AEC Researcher Tanya Stasio, PhD, Research Assistant Jordan Burt, Assistant Researchers Elisabeth Seliga and Sachin Peddada, and Senior Economist, Liz Stanton, PhD  have prepared a cumulative impact assessment on behalf of Sane Energy and Alliance for a Green Economy to highlight the existing and overlapping socioeconomic, environmental, and health-related burdens facing the communities living near the pending Phase 5 pipeline construction and vaporizer additions at the Greenpoint Energy Center. AEC finds that the Bushwick, Bedford, and Williamsburg neighborhoods would be impacted the most from these fossil fuel expansion projects and include densely populated communities with majority BIPOC and low-income residents.

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Boston Tree Equity Analysis

Client: GreenRoots and Speak for the Trees

Authors: Tanya Stasio, PhD, Elisabeth Seliga, Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD

Boston’s trees provide shade, cooling, and flood protection, and are an important tool for mitigating climate change impacts—like increased precipitation, sea level rise, and higher temperatures. The distribution of trees across and within Boston neighborhoods determines which communities benefit from these protections and which are left bearing the brunt of climate change impacts.

On behalf of GreenRoots and Speak for the Trees, Researcher Tanya Stasio, PhD, Assistant Researcher Elisabeth Seliga and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD examined the distribution of tree coverage, pollution, high temperatures, and socioeconomic disparities in the City of Boston in order to identify communities where tree planting efforts could offer the most equitable results.

AEC recommends that equitable tree planting efforts be concentrated in neighborhoods where there is both the greatest opportunity for planting trees in an otherwise tree scarce area and a high concentration of socially vulnerable populations: South Boston, East Boston, Dorchester, and Roxbury.

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Bringing Equity into Energy Reliability Decisions

Client: Environmental Defense Fund

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Sachin Peddada, Sagal Alisalad, Jordan Burt, Elisabeth Seliga, Tanya Stasio, PhD, Eliandro Tavares, Grace Wu, Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD

AEC staff prepared a report on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund that analyzes the connection between issues of energy system reliability and equity. This data-driven report utilizes case studies of advocates’ for more equitable energy systems real-world experiences to assess how decision-makers should account for equity when making decisions regarding system reliability. The report concludes with recommendations for future decision-making in energy system reliability, including strengthening consumer and community representation. A common theme across the real-world experiences of the advocates discussed in this report is the ways in which community engagement efforts in energy system decision-making often fall short of creating real change in energy sector decisions, and environmental justice and other under-resourced and underserved communities are often left out and left behind in decisions that directly disproportionately harm the health and wealth of their communities.

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Link to Press Release

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Barriers and Opportunities for Green Jobs in New Jersey

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Joshua R. Castigliego, Elisabeth Seliga, Sachin Peddada, Tanya Stasio, PhD, Liz Stanton, PhD

June 2022

Senior Researcher Bryndis Woods, PhD, Researcher Joshua Castigliego, Assistant Researchers Elisabeth Seliga and Sachin Peddada, Researcher Tanya Stasio, PhD, and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared a report that assesses New Jersey’s current clean energy workforce, identifies barriers to green jobs that impede access to—and equitable representation within—the clean energy sector, and provides recommendations regarding how the State of New Jersey can shape policy and regulations to enhance the equity, diversity and inclusion of its clean energy jobs. AEC staff find that there are important barriers to green jobs that reinforce existing inequities in New Jersey’s clean energy workforce, including: educational/experience barriers, logistical barriers, equitable access barriers, and institutional barriers. Achieving a future of clean energy jobs in New Jersey that is diverse, equitable and inclusive will require overcoming barriers to green jobs with intentional efforts targeted at marginalized and underrepresented groups, such as racial/ethnic minorities, women, low-income households, and people with limited English proficiency.

In a companion publication to this report—Economic Impacts of a Clean Energy Transition in New Jersey—AEC assesses the job and other economic impacts associated with achieving a clean energy transition in New Jersey over the next few decades. 

Link to Report

Link to Presentation

Link to Press Release

Media Coverage - NJBiz - June 9, 2022

Media Coverage - NJ Spotlight News - June 8, 2022

Media Coverage - Asbury Park Press - June 8, 2022

Media Coverage - NJ101.5 - June 7, 2022

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Cambridge Net Zero Action Plan

Client: City of Cambridge

Authors: Bryndis Woods and Liz Stanton, PhD

December 2021

Together with DNV GL and Sorensen Partners, AEC led the City of Cambridge's stakeholder engagement process to provide equity input on the City's 2021 update to its 2015 Net Zero Action Plan.

The Net Zero Task Force held five public, remote meetings between November 2020 and June 2021.
AEC provided equity guidance and input throughout the process as the Task Force worked to propose and evaluate adjustments to the Net Zero Action Plan.

• Meeting 1, November 2020: 
  AEC presented on its Climate and Social Equity Framework and baseline equity considerations for the City of Cambridge.

• Meeting 2, December 2020: 
  AEC provided guidance regarding the potential co-benefits of Net Zero Actions, including equity co-benefits.

• Meeting 3, January 2021: 
  AEC answered stakeholders’ questions regarding equity.

• Meeting 4, April 2021: 
  AEC presented on the equity implications of the proposed Net Zero Action Plan adjustments, including equitable action design and implementation.

• Meeting 5, May 2021: 
  AEC presented on the “equity rating” assigned to each proposed Net Zero Action—equity ratings indicate whether each Action, as it currently stands, is likely to have equity impacts that are positive, neutral, or need to be addressed with additional action (“flagged”).

In January 2022, the City of Cambridge received City Council approval on its final Net Zero Action Plan.

Link to Final Cambridge Net Zero Action Plan

Recommendations for Cities and States to Improve Equity Evaluation and Reporting in Energy Efficiency Programming

Client: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Liz Stanton, PhD, and Sagal Alisalad

October 2021

On behalf of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), this Applied Economics Clinic white paper recommends measures that cities and states can undertake to facilitate equitable energy efficiency evaluation and reporting of energy efficiency efforts, based on the results of our review of low-income energy efficiency efforts in ACEEE’s top-scoring cities and states in their 2020 City and State energy efficiency scorecards.

We find that the cities and states most highly-rated for energy efficiency offer programs for low-income community members, but fail to take critical actions necessary for equitable evaluation and reporting to facilitate equitable outcomes. Based on our review of these programs, we find that—while these programs have made important progress on addressing equity concerns by offering efficiency programming specifically to low-income households—more robust energy efficiency evaluation and reporting are needed to shine a light on city and state equity-focused energy efficiency programming and ensure that efficiency benefits are equitably distributed. We recommend three main improvements that would drastically enhance the ability to evaluate these programs for their equity-related impacts:

• Mandate disaggregated efficiency program performance reporting;
• Identify, track, and target vulnerable populations; and
• Integrate energy efficiency, climate, and equity planning and reporting.

Link to Report

Link to ACEEE's Leading with Equity Initiative White Paper

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Assessment of Backup Diesel Generators in Massachusetts and New York City

Client: Bloom Energy

Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Tanya Stasio, Sagal Alisalad, Liz Stanton, PhD

August 2021

On behalf of Bloom Energy, Researchers Joshua Castigliego and Tanya Stasio, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared two reports assessing backup diesel generators in Massachusetts and New York City. AEC compiled inventories of backup diesel generators in each jurisdiction based on publicly available data and reviewed the quantity, combined capacity, proximity to environmental justice (EJ) communities, and emissions impact of backup diesel generators.

AEC found that there is an abundance of backup diesel generators throughout both areas that are commonly sited near EJ communities and represent a considerable—and largely avoidable—source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that threaten public health and the environment.

Link to Massachusetts Report

Link to New York City Report

Link to Download Shapefile for Massachusetts Environmental Justice Communities

Link to Download Shapefile for New York City Environmental Justice Communities

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“Measuring Climate Equity" at LIEN Annual Conference 2021

Event:
“Measuring Climate Equity" at the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) Annual Conference 2021

Speaker:
Sagal Alisalad

July 2021

AEC Assistant Researcher, Sagal Alisalad presented on “Measuring Climate Equity" at the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) Annual Conference 2021. Ms. Alisalad gave a primer on climate equity, described AEC’S climate and social equity framework, and introduced four types of metrics for climate equity: Outcome Metrics, Distributional Dimensions, Process Metrics, and Structural Metrics. This year’s LIEN conference focuses on Energy Equity: Using Energy Efficiency to Fight Energy Poverty in Canada.

Link to Presentation Slides

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Benefits of Net Zero Buildings for the Town of Bedford

Client:
Facilities Department of the Town of Bedford, MA

Authors:
Bryndis Woods, PhD and Joshua R. Castigliego

June 2021

On behalf of the Facilities Department of the Town of Bedford, Massachusetts, Senior Researcher Bryndis Woods, PhD and Researcher Joshua R. Castigliego prepared a report outlining the Town’s climate and energy goals and how investments in Net Zero and Net Zero Ready buildings can contribute to these goals and provide additional health, comfort, cost savings, resiliency, and safety benefits. Achieving the Town’s goal of net-zero energy use in all municipal buildings by 2030 will require investments in “Net Zero” buildings—which generate at least as much renewable energy in a year as they consume—and “Net Zero Ready” buildings—which reduce building energy and fossil fuel use to the point that any remaining emissions could be offset with purchases of carbon offset credits. In this report, AEC analyzes proposed Net Zero Ready investments in Bedford High School’s heating and cooling system. We find that Net Zero Ready investments are $2.9 million more expensive than a gas-fired alternative over 20 years; every “extra” thousand dollars invested in Net Zero Ready would provide the Town with a reduction benefit of 2 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the equipment lifetime. A Net Zero Ready Bedford High School would reduce average annual emissions from the High School by 64 percent and the Town’s municipal buildings by 21 percent.

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Conditional Benefits of Sustainable Community Microgrids

Client: GreenRoots

Authors:
Joshua R. Castigliego, Tanya Stasio, and Eliandro Tavares

May 2021

On behalf of GreenRoots, Researcher Joshua Castigliego, Research Assistant Tanya Stasio, and Assistant Researcher Eliandro Tavares prepared a policy brief on the impacts of community microgrids on vulnerable populations. AEC staff defined “sustainable community microgrids” as independently controlled energy systems that, depending on their design, have the potential to enhance grid resilience, lower electric bills, improve public health, and strengthen local communities while prioritizing equitable outcomes.

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Initial Assessment of the Climate Justice Working Group’s Recommended Policy Priorities – Tracking Equity and Justice

Client: Massachusetts’ Climate Justice Working Group

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD and Liz Stanton, PhD

March 2021

On behalf of members of the Massachusetts’ Climate Justice Working Group (CJWG)—Conservation Law Foundation, Health Care Without Harm, Neighbor to Neighbor, Alternatives for Community and Environment, GreenRoots, Coalition for Social Justice, Clean Water Action, and Unitarian Universalist Mass Action—this Applied Economics Clinic report describes how progress could be tracked, measured and evaluated for each of CJWG’s six policy priorities by recommending specific metrics to evaluate their equity and justice impacts. This report also includes a discussion of the importance of setting measurable, actionable equity goals that include clear standards for community engagement in the Massachusetts 2030 Clean Energy and Climate Plan (2030 CECP).

For Massachusetts equity goals, including those specified by the CJWG and those contained in the 2030 CECP, to be more than just lip-service, it is of vital importance that they be formalized with concrete, specific plans that meaningfully engage the community and actionable metrics to facilitate their evaluation. In other words, all equity and justice goals need to be measurable, actionable, and involve robust, meaningful, and transparently conducted community engagement processes. This report demonstrates that much of the data and information needed to measure progress towards equity and justice goals do not currently exist or are not currently publicly available, and draws attention to the additional efforts that will be required to measure progress regarding the impacts of climate policy in EJ populations and other historically marginalized communities.

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Link to Comments

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State of Maine Renewable Energy Goals Market Assessment

Client: Maine Governor’s Energy Office

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD and Liz Stanton, PhD

February 2021

In collaboration with Energy and Environment Economics (E3), Senior Researcher Bryndis Woods, PhD and Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared a report on behalf of the Maine Governor’s Energy Office, where E3’s role was to evaluate the options for meeting Maine’s renewable targets over the next decade and AEC’s role was to assess the equity impacts of those options. By 2030, Maine aims to have 80 percent of the State’s electricity come from renewable sources.

The report analyzes six future scenarios to meet Maine’s renewable energy targets and finds that Maine will likely need to add 800 to 900 megawatts of new renewable sources between 2026 and 2030. E3 and AEC find that achieving Maine’s renewable energy goals may result in at least three benefits for its vulnerable communities: 1) reductions in emissions resulting in corresponding improvements in air quality and human health, 2) renewable resources increasing the energy supply’s safety and resiliency, and 3) clean energy development creating employment and community investment. Ensuring energy equity is prioritized during Maine’s clean energy transition will require careful attention to resource diversity, customer-sited resources, geographic resource distribution, and the cost impacts experienced by vulnerable communities.

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What the COVID-19 Pandemic Can Teach Us About Climate Justice

Authors: Sagal Alisalad, Eliandro Tavares, Tanya Stasio, and Myisha Majumder

February 2021

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had massive impacts on nearly all aspects of human life—from jobs to food security to healthcare. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are disproportionately impacted by this unprecedented health crisis as a result of preexisting socioeconomic and environmental disadvantages. Assistant Researchers Sagal Alisalad and Eliandro Tavares, and Research Assistants Tanya Stasio and Myisha Majumder prepared an AEC policy brief that focuses on the relationship between preexisting racial inequality and the economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this brief, AEC finds a substantial overlap between vulnerability to COVID-19 and vulnerability to climate change. Much like the global climate crisis, some groups, especially Environmental Justice communities, are more likely to bear the brunt of the ongoing health crisis.

Link to Policy Brief

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Benefits of Community Choice Energy for the City of Chelsea

Link to Policy Brief

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Client: GreenRoots

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, and Sagal Alisalad

September 2020

This Applied Economics Clinic policy brief—prepared on behalf of GreenRoots, a Chelsea-based organization working to achieve environmental justice—presents ways in which Community Choice Energy (CCE) programs can provide important benefits for vulnerable communities, including better community control and participation in energy choices, protection from predatory suppliers, more renewable content, and lower costs than Eversource and National Grid’s basic electric service rates.

Visualizations of Racial Inequity

Client: Renew New England
Authors: AEC Staff

August 2020

On behalf of the Renew New England coalition, AEC used publicly available data to produce visualizations of racial disparities. 

There are three sets of data graphics:

1) The first set shows disparities in rates of incarceration, average income, COVID-19 cases, and unemployment across as many as five racial categories: Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latinx and white. This data is presented for each of the New England states and the U.S.

2) The second set shows Black/white disparities across as many as 23 measures (e.g. homelessness, infant mortality, educational attainment). This data is presented for Massachusetts and the total U.S.

3) Black/white unemployment for all U.S. states and the U.S. average. 

The data demonstrate that racial inequalities are pervasive across common measures of well-being like employment, incarceration, poverty status and educational attainment. These inequalities are consistent across New England and the rest of the United States. For example, across the United States today, a Black individual is 6.4 times more likely than a white individual to be incarcerated, 2.4 times more likely to have a positive COVID-19 test, and 2.2 times more likely to be unemployed.

Link to Presentation

Link to Downloadable Images

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New England Housing Costs: Rent as a Share of Income

Authors: Bryndis Woods, Liz Stanton, PhD and Eliandro Tavares

March 2020

Researcher Bryndis Woods, Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD and Assistant Researcher Eliandro Tavares prepared a presentation that assesses housing costs as a share of income across the New England states. We find that, across New England, lower-income households bear a greater rent burden than higher-income households. Between 2011 and 2017, some households’ rent as a share of income has risen, as a result of falling incomes and/or rising rents that can lead to displacement.

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