Climate Equity & Community Engagement in Building Electrification Tool Kit

The Climate Equity & Community Engagement in Building Electrification Toolkit provides a community engagement model and strategies to center equity in building electrification. The toolkit was created by PODER in collaboration with Emerald Cities Collaborative.

Effective and inclusive community engagement is an advantageous and valuable tool for local governments and community-based organizations and their constituents to achieve consensus on issues that influence residents’ livelihoods and daily life. Though there are many forms of engaging a community, it is important to create a process that does not exclude the voices of the community. This exclusion can take form by engaging only representatives and technical experts to guide agencies and organizations to develop decarbonization strategies.

These individuals provide essential insight and appropriate assessments of the climate burdens of a city and the solutions needed to address these burdens. In a best case scenario, these individuals may also be able to provide a general overview of how socioeconomic issues create barriers for residents to participate in the development of their city. However, if the individuals that are engaged in these processes are not reflective of the social, cultural and economic demographics of the community to be served, then the process will not yield equitable climate solutions.

Building decarbonization can only be successful within a community if the barriers to accessing and using building electrification technologies are removed.