Addressing the Lack of Diversity in the Clean Tech Industry
What does it have to do with environmental justice?
Clean tech is continuing to rise as more businesses and investors are finding value in building a green economy. Furthermore, the Biden Administration has promised to invest 400 billion USD in clean energy technologies and innovation over the next ten years. This means that the clean tech industry is going to continue expanding and having a deep impact on our communities and cities worldwide. This also means that those with the power, resources, and connections to lead this growing industry are going to have a large amount of influence on project planning and implementation.
With this innovation, comes important questions around equity and justice. According to the Solar Foundation, the 2019 solar work force was 73% white, 17% Hispanic or Latinx, 9% Asian, and 8% African American—in a country that is 60% white, 18% Hispanic or Latinx, 13% African American, and 6% Asian.
Adding gender into the mix, it was found that the percentage of women executive officers in the clean technology sector as of mid-2020 was 14%, with an assumption that women of color are probably a very small percentage of that minority group.
Connections between the lack of diversity and environmental justice
This lack of diversity is very concerning when we consider environmental justice. If we build a “clean energy” future that does not have BIPOC in roles of leadership, membership, or decision-making, we may seem some very severe trickle-down impacts on communities. BIPOC communities and low-income communities may not be treated as a priority and may instead be exploited or harmed even in the name of creating a “clean” energy future.
Everyone deserves access to a clean, liveable environment. If the benefits of clean tech can only reach or support those with wealth, time, and resources, we may see the transition to a renewable future leave Black and Brown communities behind.
So this is where the discussion around diversity and inclusion comes in – and leaves us with some questions:
What are the institutional barriers BIPOC face while building a career in the clean tech space?
What are some of the equity/ justice issues present in developing clean technologies?
What communities may get left behind or neglected in the name of building a “clean energy” future?
Institutional barriers for BIPOC who want to get into clean tech
The lack of diversity in clean tech can largely be attributed to a larger trend- the significant lack of diversity we find in STEM education. Despite BIPOC comprising 27% of the United States, only 11% of BIPOC workers hold science and engineering jobs. The lack of recruitment, retention, and support for young BIPOC to thrive in fields where they can gain the foundational knowledge to enter the clean tech space already places them at an extreme disadvantage.
Further, even for the very few who can traverse academia to learn about the benefits/ job opportunities available for clean tech, there is still more barriers to be found. This includes pursuing post-graduate education.
The clean tech industry typically requires an individual to acquire a masters or PHD in order to move up the ladder of leadership and authority in this space. This can require time, money, networking, mentorship etc. that many BIPOC (especially those who are first-generation students) may not have access to do to thrive in this field.
Therefore, as you climb up the ranks of senior leadership within clean tech, you see even more barriers around having business and economics knowledge on top of having a STEM background. Again, this narrows the pool of opportunities for BIPOC who may not have the funding or support to get to that level of leadership.
How does clean tech in general have equity/ justice concerns?
As people praise a clean, renewable energy future, it is almost assumed that this will be done in a way that will benefit everyone equitably, but as many things in this world, this is still a work in progress.
According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Center, 87% of the 23 largest companies mining cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, nickel and zinc – the six minerals essential to the renewable energy industry – have faced allegations of abuse including land rights infringements, corruption, violence or death over the past 10 years. If the renewable energy sector is expected to accelerate at a dramatically rapid rate, how will companies in this space be held accountable to not harming or exploiting BIPOC communities? If companies in this space have no proper accountability mechanisms around human rights or labor rights, how will this industry be clean, sustainable, or equitable in the long term?
These are questions that may not cross the minds of a largely white, male leadership team and work force who are pushing this transition forward. People who don’t come from marginalized communities may find addressing racial and social justice daunting or slow, but exponential, unregulated growth and profit is what led us into this crisis in the first place. So patience, humility, and responsibility to the most oppressed in our society must be of the utmost importance.
Who gets left behind in the process?
Further, in the implementation phase, a 2019 study published in Nature Sustainability revealed that black and Latino neighbourhoods were respectively 69% and 50% less likely to have solar power installed on their roofs than their white counterparts. If these communities are left behind, they may experience severe energy poverty, outdated infrastructure, and may lose value on their homes/ neighborhoods. This can continue to further patterns of oppression and disinvestment for communities that are and will continue to be extremely vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis. Those who are in leadership need to acknowledge these inequities and do better immediately.
How can companies and non-profits do better to diversify & advance a just transition?
In order to create a just transition (as coined by climate justice leaders), the clean tech industry needs to prioritize investing and collaborating with BIPOC communities on the ground – both in the production and implementation stages of the work. This would call on clean tech leaders to be more actively involved in discussions around justice, diversity, and equity to critically think about the clean tech supply chain and labor force.
The clean tech sector will significantly benefit from greater diversity, equity, and inclusion as there will be a thriving work force who can better meet and understand the needs of BIPOC communities. This will be very important in gaining trust, credibility, and reliability when implementing a clean tech strategy. It requires companies to shift resources and invest in people and initiatives who are changing the face of this sector. So how can we measure this and make it happen?
Always be a work in progress
Vertuelab is an example of a non-profit that is actually trying to do better on this front by pushing clean tech startups to keep growing in their DEI practices. As part of their entrepreneur support programs, they have an established internship program that guarantees a paid $15 minimum wage and ensures that their recruitment is in a variety of forums to ensure they are reaching BIPOC audiences.
With the interns they are able to acquire, they have regular check-ins to make sure they are getting proper support from the startups they are working with, to make sure the experience is collaborative and enjoyable. In addition, they work to track and report diversity on the teams of their supported clean tech companies, and require frequent reporting to ensure that these goals are being tracked and met.
These kinds of actions, along with mentorship, career fellowships, and overall longer term plans to improve the clean tech jobs pipeline for BIPOC in this field is crucial. Also investment into programs like people power solar and other environmental justice groups on the ground who are fighting for a just transition is critical at this time.
Then, these BIPOC need true decision making and leadership positions to guide and transition this industry forward. For meaningful, not tokenized, representation to occur – BIPOC must be supported in their growth, development, and collaboration with bigger long term plans to advance clean tech in a way that won’t leave communities behind.
This looks like:
Cooperative, community-oriented problem solving on how a clean tech intervention would actually benefit, not extract from a community
Critical analysis around the need for more BIPOC leadership – this could look like an advisory council with a start up that pays BIPOC environmental justice activists/ community leaders for their time/ knowledge about a clean tech intervention
Ultimately working to target policy and regulatory mechanisms that are still allowing human rights abuses to persist against BIPOC laborers who mine, extract, and help produce the infrastructure for clean energy
Standing behind a just transition, and figuring out how to create community spaces, panels, and other collaborative spaces that follow BIPOC leadership to improve and advance the clean tech industry.
May those leading in this space evaluate and rethink their approach around this budding industry. It will continue to be imperative to sustain trust, communication, and reliability of this energy transition with communities on the ground. That would be the true innovation.
