Clean Energy + Environmental Justice

As wind and solar power production increases, a fair, inclusive, and effective clean energy transition strategy must prioritize community participation and build coalitions across diverse interests, empowering local voices—especially those from marginalized communities. Failure to build these coalitions across organizations, communities, and industries risks creating a more volatile and adversarial landscape. Without collaboration, all stakeholders are likely to face increased regulatory and economic uncertainty, which could hinder the expansion of clean energy production and exacerbate tensions between local communities, the energy industry, and policymakers. These tensions could result in increased opposition to energy production in any form, destructive political gridlock, and deep-seated resentment and animosity.

New Futures Fellows Kyle Parker and Katherine Yang traveled to the front-range region of Colorado to engage with advocacy and community based organizations about the challenges posed by historical fossil fuel extraction and continuing barriers to participation in energy development. In this video, the fellows and Common Grounds project staff tell the story of some of the groups and organizations they engaged with in Colorado. The environmental justice approach offers the promise that the development of renewable energy resources, coupled with strong environmental protections and emissions limits, can offer new benefits to energy communities that have previously relied on fossil fuel extraction.