Report details practical recommendations that organizations and individuals can implement immediately
Contact:
Mai Sistla
Deputy Director
Aspen Tech Policy Hub
Maitreyi.Sistla@aspeninstitute.org
Miami Beach, Florida, May 11, 2022 — The Aspen Institute’s Tech Policy Hub and Energy and Environment Program, in consultation with Green 2.0, are pleased to release our new report on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Climate Policy and Tech.
Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by climate change, and yet women and people of color are severely underrepresented in the environmental space—from climate policy to clean energy sectors. This report seeks to provide actionable steps that organizations can take now to ensure climate solutions include the critical perspectives of the people most directly impacted by climate change.
The report’s findings include an expressed need to:
- Ensure leadership accountability within climate organizations for implementing DEI practices,
- Proactively strengthen the resources available to youth in historically marginalized communities to welcome them into the climate and clean energy spaces, and
- Influence the funding decisions of venture capital and accelerators who play a major role in addressing climate change to make DEI a priority.
The report is the product of a March 2022 roundtable with an intergenerational, cross-disciplinary group of more than 40 leaders in climate tech and climate policy. It was released today at the Aspen Ideas Climate plenary, which featured remarks from Meghan O’Sullivan, Director of Geopolitics of Energy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School and former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush; Adam Silver, Commissioner of the NBA; and Indira Lakshmanan, senior editor at National Geographic.
“There are many initiatives that climate organizations could take on today to improve DEI in their own workplaces,” says Mai Sistla, Deputy Director of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. “We hope this report encourages organizations to execute some of these initiatives and make climate policy and tech more inclusive spaces for all.”
The following leaders are available for comment about the report.
- Mai Sistla, Deputy Director, Aspen Tech Policy Hub
- Greg Gershuny, Executive Director, Aspen Energy and Environment
- Andrés Jimenez, Executive Director, Green 2.0
###
The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is a West Coast policy incubator, training a new generation of science and tech policy entrepreneurs. The Hub takes science and tech experts, teaches them the policy process through fellowship and training programs, and encourages them to develop outside-the-box solutions to society’s problems. It models itself after tech incubators like Y Combinator, but trains new policy thinkers and focuses on the impact of their ideas. For more information, please visit https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org. The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is an initiative of Aspen Digital.
The Aspen Energy and Environment Program (EEP) explores significant challenges with diverse thinkers and doers to make a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable society for all. We address critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues through non-partisan, non-ideological convening, with the specific intent of bringing together diverse stakeholders to improve the process and progress of policy-level dialogue. This enables EEP to sit at a critical intersection in the conversation and bring together diverse groups of expert stakeholders. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/ee or follow @AIEnvironment.
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
Green 2.0 is a 501(c)3 independent campaign working to increase racial diversity among environmental organizations. Green 2.0 believes in a powerful, winning environmental movement grounded in equity and inclusion. For more information, visit https://diversegreen.org/.