New York State Bar Association Environmental and Energy Law Section’s Post

The EPA’s Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program (Community Change Grants) has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for approximately $2 billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. They are designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments. Learn more about eligible organizations, including federally-recognized Tribes, here: https://lnkd.in/g-Q9t_U5

"EPA’s new Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program (Community Change Grants) has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for approximately $2 billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. They are designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments." https://lnkd.in/gfHtHMXv

The EPA’s new Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program (Community Change Grants) has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for approximately $2 billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. They are designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments. Learn more about eligible organizations, including federally-recognized Tribes, here: https://lnkd.in/g-Q9t_U5

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now accepting applications for the Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants. With up to $2 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, this program supports community-driven projects aimed at tackling environmental and climate justice challenges, enhancing climate resilience, and advancing clean energy solutions. 📅 Application Deadline: Rolling until November 21, 2024 💰 Funding Available: Up to $2,000,000,000 🤝 Requirement: Must collaborate with a Community-Based Organization This funding is part of the EPA’s commitment to achieving environmental justice, in alignment with Executive Orders 14008 and 13985. If your community is working towards a cleaner, more resilient future, this is a huge opportunity to make an impact! 🌍✨ Learn more and apply: https://buff.ly/3wyOpRv ➡️ Let’s build a better tomorrow together! #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateAction #CommunityChange #EPA"

Check out my latest blog post on guiding federal environmental justice funding to underserved communities!

Federal funding programs like the Justice40 Initiative aim to help disadvantaged communities affected by climate change, yet challenges persist in translating these funds into tangible impacts due to disparities at the municipal, state, and corporate levels. Effective community engagement, data-driven strategies, and transparent partnerships can mitigate these challenges, ensuring equitable distribution and impactful outcomes. Learn more in our latest blog by Prachi Mehrotra, MPP: https://hubs.la/Q02lWwdr0 Ichor Strategies combines powerful research capabilities with on-the-ground community dialogues in 70 cities across the nation, helping public and private institutions bridge the gap between funding and tangible environmental justice outcomes. #ClimateChange #Justice40 #EnvironmentalJustice #DisadvantagedCommunities

There is no "one size fits all" solution for the climate transition, but we have a powerful playbook. This is how I would summarize several of the major takeaways from last week's "Clean Power to the People: An Evening with Local Environmental Justice Leaders" in Oakland organized by YPE SF Bay Area. A few synthesized highlights from across panelists Allie Detrio (Reimagine Power), Jessica Guadalupe Tovar (Local Clean Energy Alliance), Mari Rose Taruc (California Environmental Justice Alliance), Espe Vielma (Coalition of Environmental Equity and Economics), and Travis Gibrael, MSW (Reclaim Our Power Utility Justice Campaign) (Moderator): 💦 Environmental justice (EJ) must be enacted locally to be achieved globally. EJ requires asking, for example, "Who is the community we are trying to transition?" and responding according to unique sets of needs. 🍃 A just transition means not sacrificing communities of people in the name of "progress." We must constantly assess our work as individuals and organizations to ensure we do not unwittingly reproduce environmental injustice as we transition away from fossil fuels. 💦 There is (still) a huge disconnect between policy makers and those impacted by new policies. Caring about democracy and procedural justice means expanding our efforts to channel community voices into public decision-making spaces — with the most important voices being those of community members most impacted by environmental harms and/or for whom new "green" or "clean" technologies prove inaccessible or harmful. 🍃 Climate justice is social justice is better health is a Free Palestine. It's all connected. We must center the coherent set of values that allow us simultaneously to pursue racial equity and justice, ecological restoration and protection, and indigenous liberation — and to recognize the abundant "nonenergy" benefits that come with a just transition. Complexity can overwhelm, but it also empowers and creates diverse in-roads for participating in problem-solving. Because it is a call to action, I love the Climate Justice Alliance's assertion: "Transition is inevitable. Justice is not." The transition to a new energy future will not be just unless we ensure it is. We have a multitude of entry points as individuals and organizations for propelling a just transition. In Espe's words, "The energy transition has to be now" — so we all must take a page from the playbook and get to work. 💫 #JustTransition #ActonClimate #EnvironmentalJustice #FreePalestine

We spoke, the Environmental Audit Committee listened, will the government take action? Read the latest article on our info hub discussing Shade the UK's takeaways from the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommendations report on ‘Heat Resilience and Sustainable Cooling’ - written by Marietta Gontikaki. When an open call was put out last summer to submit written evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee's inquiry, Shade the UK felt this was an opportunity to speak out. Our key proposals to the Committee were that the Government needs to: - Ensure priority is given to the homes of disadvantaged communities in deploying the national housing retrofit programme urgently needed to support the transition to net zero (which is yet come). - Ensure that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, worth 2.6 billion, prioritises adaptation interventions within deprived neighbourhoods. - Secure sustainable, long-term funding at the scale needed to support local authorities, healthcare, and education providers to improve their services and capacity in deprived areas. Link to the article and our full response to the committee below. #climatechange #climateadaptation #heatwave #climateresilience #builtenvironment #community #environmentalauditcommittee https://lnkd.in/eK_9mpmj

Some really crucial points here from Sarah T. Romano, PhD. Justice is about people and communities, about removing the causes of harm, remediating past harms, building health, resilience and economic self-reliance in every community. There can be no more "sacrifice zones" for the so called "greater good," because we know the ones who are sacrificed are the communities with no political voice. And beware of conventional concepts of "affordability" - utility rates for ratepayers at large have historically been kept artificially low by externalizing real energy-related costs (like health impacts) on lower-income and communities of color. We can't fix the root causes of climate disruption without dismantling these patterns of injustice.

"More than $325 million will go to 21 awardees of the Community Change grants program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced. The grants are geared toward communities most negatively and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestment, according to the EPA." This will also result in new jobs and work for local communities, given that 150 residents will be trained on clean energy installation and repairs. We want to see initiatives like this! More jobs for people, more underserved communities given access to cleaner energy, and more eyes on environmental justice. Source: https://lnkd.in/gKsuyB5f #EnvironmentalJustice #UnderservedCommunities #EPA