Connecting the Dots
Moderator Joi Chaney is Executive Director, Washington Bureau of the National Urban League. Janelle Knox-Hayes is Associate Professor at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Gladys Brown Dutrieuille is Chair of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Jason Bordoff is Founding Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Trenton Allen is the CEO of Sustainable Capital Advisors.
The American Association of Blacks in Energy held its 44th National Conference streaming live at the end of May. During the three-day conference, the Association hosted more than five hundred energy industry and community leaders.
The energy transition and investments to address climate change will generate billions of dollars in economic impact. This panel explored the purposeful actions necessary to be taken to ensure that African American and underserved communities — rural and urban — are full participants in the new energy economy. Enjoy excerpts from this engaging discussion.
Moderator and Executive Director, Washington Bureau of National Urban League, Joi Chaney: The conversation is about energy equity. How can we ensure we are connecting the dots and making sure all aspects of our justice work include the conversation about energy?
The National Urban League recently launched our Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity and Inclusion. One of the taglines is, broadband is as essential as running water and electricity within the home. We say it so flippantly as if every community has that equally and that every community has that consistently. It's not always true. As I researched for this panel because I'm not an energy expert, one of the questions I had was, what is the definition of energy justice?
Associate Professor, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Janelle Knox-Hayes: