Centering Impacted Communities in the Green Economy
Summary
In 2024, Seeding Justice committed to growing its inclusive green economy and environmental justice efforts through the inaugural Community Climate Investment Fund, creating more than 300 jobs by 2026. This fund will back community-identified, -centered, and/or -led clean energy projects fostering economic development and the democratization of clean energy. Once fully operational, the fund could provide up to $150 million annually for community-centered clean energy projects, directly impacting the lives of more than 20,000 individuals in the Pacific Northwest. Seeding Justice will also launch a community mapping process to unearth the climate and economic challenges impacted communities face and their perspectives on strengths, solutions, and priorities. These insights will shape the foundation for funding criteria. As part of this initiative, Seeding Justice will expand its climate and economic development Tribal funds to Washington State and other Tribal territories in the Pacific Northwest.
Approach
Seeding Justice commits to growing its inclusive green economy and environmental justice efforts through the inaugural Community Climate Investment Fund, creating over 300 jobs by 2026. This fund will back community-identified, centered, and/or led clean energy projects fostering economic development and democratization of clean energy. Once fully operational, the fund could provide up to $150 million annually for community-centered clean energy projects, directly impacting the lives of more than 20,000 individuals in the Pacific Northwest.
In addition, Seeding Justice will launch a community mapping process to unearth the climate and economic challenges impacted communities face and their perspectives on strengths, solutions, and priorities. These insights will shape the foundation for funding criteria. A community advisory committee will make all funding decisions. In parallel, Seeding Justice seeks to develop partnerships with local technical support groups to identify and fill capacity gaps. As part of this initiative, Seeding Justice will expand its climate and economic development Tribal funds to Washington State and other Tribal territories in the Pacific Northwest.
For nearly 50 years, Seeding Justice has prioritized community needs by providing seed funding and capacity building for affected communities. We were approached to do this work by impacted communities, Tribal authorities, and environmental justice groups. Their environmental justice and inclusive green economy team comprises leaders in the field.
Action Plan
Seeding Justice facilitates a community-driven strategic development process to further the vision for our inclusive green economy and environmental justice work. From June to October 2024, Seeding Justice will embark on a community mapping process to gather input from intentionally marginalized communities most impacted by the effects of climate change. The insights from this process will identify the community advisory committee members. Insights and feedback will be used to develop the community’s clean energy funding criteria. Simultaneously, Seeding Justice is working with environmental justice partners to provide public comments to the state of Oregon as part of the rulemaking process to ensure the development of a Community Climate Protection Program that centers equity. (April-July 2024) Once this process is complete, Seeding Justice will re-apply to be the Community Climate Investment Fund implementing entity (estimated date: January 2025) . By Spring 2025, Seeding Justice will have finalized the support it will underwrite as part of the financial braiding, job acceleration, and technical assistance for local clean energy groups. If secured, Seeding Justice should be positioned to begin funding community-centered clean energy projects by December 2025. Community-centered clean energy projects should be moving into active development by the summer of 2026 through the end of the commitment phase and beyond.
Background
Climate change and generational poverty stem from systemic norms that deliberately marginalize people of color, rural communities, LGBTQA+ individuals, women, and under-resourced populations. Systemically, marginalized groups bear the brunt of natural disasters, including catastrophic floods, wildfires, heat domes, and toxic environmental pollutants. Low-income households use over 17 percent of their income to pay utilities, and they lack up front capital to invest in clean technology. While the US is making substantial investments in clean energy through tax incentives and low-interest debt, a community-led approach is crucial for those most affected by poverty and climate change. These groups require technical assistance to navigate the maze of available financial support, project and development capacity building, as well as grant funding that will kick start projects and enable additional funding. Without this support, there is a significant chance that those most impacted by climate change will be left out – exacerbating an entrenched racialized wealth gap. Structurally, opposition from the fossil fuel industry poses a significant challenge, with local resistance identified as a critical obstacle to program implementation. For Seeding Justice, an organization deeply rooted in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color movements for nearly 50 years, this issue has heavily impacted the ability to implement an equity-centered, community-first climate investment fund. Seeding Justice was awarded a contract from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to implement a Oregon Community Climate Investment Fund as part of the state’s Community Protection Program. Unfortunately, the initial launch of the program was halted due to a successful lawsuit led by local fossil fuel companies. Now DEQ is working on getting the rules for the program re-approved. Seeding Justice has been working with a coalition to defend and strengthen the former rules. DEQ has committed to relaunching the program on 1/1/2025
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
Seeding Justice has been successfully implementing a participatory grant-making, community-led approach for nearly 50 years. They have exponentially scaled our approach over the past five years. Media amplification of our work will help provide credibility to attract additional funding and partners to scale our approach further. Financial resources for the fund and operations will enable them to achieve our critical goals. Dynamic partners who share their vision will enable us to scale our impact, ultimately addressing the intersection of environmental justice, wealth creation, and decreasing carbon emissions., The community climate investment fund will provide grants to community-centered clean energy projects. Some grants will provide all the capital needed to launch a community-centered clean energy project or de-risk a project that would otherwise not be funded, providing credibility and enabling an emerging group to secure other forms of capital. Seeding Justice is designing a strategy to support local technical assistance groups in operationalizing a plan to ensure communities most impacted by climate disasters receive clean energy and that historically marginalized communities benefit from the green economy. We are forwarding an equity-centered model that will be useful to all stakeholders working in this ecosystem, providing critical insights from their community mapping project for the development of products and services. Finally, they are serving Tribal communities by expanding their Tribal environmental justice work into new communities across the Pacific Northwest.