September 18, 2023
Monday, Sep 18, 2023
Contacts
Radiah Shabazz, People’s Center for Climate Innovation, (804) 869-6231; [email protected]
Alexandra Laney, Institute for Market Transformation, (530) 645-2539; [email protected]
People’s Climate Innovation Center (Climate Innovation) and the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) have announced the first grantees through Community Climate Shift. This timely initiative is transforming how communities and governments work together to address climate change and social justice through transformative, community-led policymaking. It aims to address historic injustices to frontline communities by shifting power and nurturing a movement for sustained change. The work is supported by a coalition of community-based organizations and technical partners, philanthropies, and local governments. These awards to community-based organizations complement the recent Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation grant from the Department of Energy to assist local governments with this same approach.
Community Climate Shift will activate and support a network of partners in communities nationwide, many of which are part of President Biden’s National Building Performance Standards Coalition, to collectively emphasize climate justice and promote community-driven policy making and resources. What makes these projects unique are their focus on frontline communities, and their collaboration between government and community-based organizations. All projects share five critical objectives:
So far, Community Climate Shift has allocated $625,000, $45,000 for participating organizations and $580,000 to four projects that address a range of activities supporting local building decarbonization efforts, including:
Emissions from the built environment contribute to nearly one-third of national greenhouse gas emissions, additionally energy inefficiency is a major contributor to high energy bills that are disproportionately apportioned to frontline community members. Most people also spend 90% of their time indoors, making building improvements essential to health, safety, and productivity. Renovating these buildings will improve living and work conditions for occupants and will create valuable local job opportunities related to the clean energy transition.
The People’s Climate Innovation Center and the Institute for Market Transformation are the founding partners of Community Climate Shift, bringing complementary strengths in community organization and technical building policy knowledge. Additionally, the Coalition includes partner organizations that have direct experience in frontline communities, as well as those working nationally to address issues like equitable approaches to building electrification, workforce development, affordable housing, and energy efficiency. Learn more about Community Climate Shift at www.communityclimateshift.org.