An Equity and Justice Framework for Decision-making and Program Implementation
As part of the Oregon Energy Strategy, the Equity and Justice Framework was informed by an Environmental Justice and Equity Policy Working Group and is designed to be used in the development and implementation of energy policy by policy makers, agencies, and other implementors. The framework may be used as a resource and tool to follow best practices with recognition that some agencies have or are in the process of developing their own strategies that address their specific needs, statutory requirements, and other regulations.
When developing energy policies, lawmakers are in the unique position to ensure meaningful engagement and equitable and just outcomes as they determine how to best serve the needs of environmental justice communities in an equitable energy transition. The framework serves to guide decision-making processes by reducing the disproportionate costs of energy burden, negative health effects from energy-related pollution, negative effects of energy infrastructure development on natural and working lands, and insufficient resilience against extreme weather induced by climate change.
At the same time, the framework considers bolstering opportunities and benefits to environmental justice communities as the state adopts new programs, regulatory structures, and business models to move the state toward cleaner energy sources. It can help determine what equity and justice approaches could be used to develop and implement policies that move Oregon toward its energy goals.
The four pillars
Using targeted universalism, meaningful involvement, and the four pillars of energy justice, the Environmental Justice and Equity Working Group informed a framework for centering equity and justice in Oregon’s energy goals. Each approach has potential supporting metrics to understand if progress is made toward equitable outcomes.
The four pillars of energy justice:
Procedural
All groups who stand to benefit or are burdened are provided space to participate and their input should be taken seriously throughout the process.
Recognition
No one group should dominate a process. The process addresses demographic, socio-economic, and geographic variables, disproportionate burdens, and lived experiences of environmental justice communities.
Distributive
Understanding of indirect and community benefits (health, jobs, environment, etc.) and intentional distribution of benefits to overburdened communities.
Restorative
Recognizing and reflecting on past harms and injustices caused by the energy system and actively working to prevent future harms and maximizing future benefits.
The Energy Strategy’s Equity and Justice Framework adopts the four pillars of energy justice from the University of Michigan’s 2022 Energy Equity Project.
The Equity and Justice Framework is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Justice and equity meet the needs of communities and people where they are, and use of the framework must adapt to serve these needs. Often, there is not a simple answer or a linear process to realizing state energy objectives in an equitable manner. Policymakers may need to consider multiple approaches within the framework to accomplish one. For example, there may be a need to build community capacity to engage in decision-making, and the different ways to accomplish this may be tailoring translated resources and holding in-person, onsite listening sessions to meet varying community needs.
Implementing the Framework
Implementing the framework will provide an opportunity to create more just and equitable practices that include access to the decision-making process, access to infrastructure development, investment in long term incentive programs, promotion of holistic workforce development, development of partnerships and resources, and consideration of cultural priorities as well as natural and working lands throughout environmental justice communities.
Five steps to developing and Implementing
ODOE and the Environmental Justice and Equity Policy Working Group identified the five steps below to apply when developing and implementing energy policies:
Determine the universal goal for the issue being addressed and who may benefit, be harmed, or be burdened when taking action.
Use the four pillars of energy justice to provide direction to achieving just and equitable outcomes in energy policies.
Use the approaches in the framework table to develop targeted actions (targeted universalism) to meet the universal goal while keeping the four pillars in mind.
Identify metrics that can be collected before, during, and/or after implementation to demonstrate success and understand gaps in the policy implementation.
Review the outcomes through the lens of the determined universal goal, targeted strategies, and metrics. Complete an analysis to understand if there are gaps and if a new goal or strategy is needed to meet the metrics.
In defining, implementing, and tracking progress on policies, it is important to endeavor to advance the following six approaches to ensure an equitable energy transition that advances energy justice. These approaches should be considered broadly and across many areas of energy policy such as energy efficiency adoption, prioritizing energy burdened households, and environmental justice communities. In addition to ODOE’s commitment to meaningful engagement with environmental justice communities through HB 4077, we further commit to incorporating the framework into our work as an agency to reduce barriers and increase equitable and just outcomes in our programs and workstreams.
Potential metrics are meant to create a starting point for conversation and should be made more specific depending on the particular policy and implementation. These potential metrics are only some ideas and not a finite list. Additionally, while the majority of these metrics are written as quantitative approaches, it is recommended to include qualitative methodologies for a complete picture of benefits, burdens, barriers, and outcomes.
The Framework
-
Approach
• All policies or programs to develop energy infrastructure and allocate funding for energy measures are designed to ensure environmental justice and energy burdened communities have equitable access to meaningful involvement in decision-making processes and bodies. This includes using accessible language, language translations, and encouraging participation from non-technical experts and experts with community-based knowledge to include those with lived and professional experience.
Intentionally reduce barriers to the participation of environmental justice groups and community members in decision-making processes and bodies, including evaluating the feasibility of providing direct financial support and indirect support for participation and incorporating the cost into agency program planning.
Potential Metrics
• Percentage of participants with economic, health, pollution burden or other energy-burden factors such as climate vulnerability score.
• Percentage of budget dedicated to supporting meaningful involvement.
• Percentage of community-based organizations that participate in the process by providing feedback and/or supporting grassroot community member outreach
• Percentage of feedback provided by environmental justice participants incorporated into policies and proposals.
• Post-process survey on accessibility and transparency.
-
Approach
Design policies and programs to deliver equitable access to clean technologies and measures for environmental justice and energy burdened communities, recognizing that they often deliver multiple benefits including clean energy, resilience, health, affordability, and other benefits.
Examples include weatherization, electric vehicles and vehicle charging infrastructure, energy efficient electric heat pumps, and distributed energy resources.
Potential Metrics
Reduced frequency and duration of power outages in environmental justice and medically vulnerable communities.
Increased weatherization and other conservation investment in environmental justice communities.
Number of heat pumps, distributed energy resources, and other clean energy technologies deployed to the benefit of environmental justice communities.
Number of public electric vehicle charging stations in under-resourced communities compared to per capita average across comparable communities/households.
Number of charging stations in low to moderate income multifamily housing compared to per capita average across nearby communities.
Proportion of technologies and measures installed in low- and moderate- income households as a percentage of total.
-
Approaches
• Develop statewide prioritization criteria for energy funding and assistance to reduce barriers for people with the greatest assistance need.
• Provide increased and stable funding and assistance for those in low-income and energy- and transportation-burdened households, commensurate with increases in energy costs.
• Identify opportunities to reduce monthly bills, even where costs are rising, through deeper weatherization and energy efficiency measures.
• Establish revolving loans with beneficial features such as zero- and low-interest rates the possibility for forbearance, and longer repayment terms to minimize monthly loan payments for low- and medium-income households.
Potential Metrics
• Number of energy funding/assistance programs created specifically for or serving majority energy- and transportation-burdened households within environmental justice communities.
• Amount of funding allocated to serve majority energy- and transportation-burdened households in state.
• Percentage of program participants who are part of an environmental justice community.
• Percentage of program participants served versus eligible populations.
• Reductions in negative environmental-related health conditions (such as asthma, respiratory disease, etc…) in environmental justice communities.
-
Approach
Develop and expand funding pathways for new and existing trainings, apprenticeships, and continuing education programs for sales, contractors, tradespeople, and landlords in relevant incentive programs to include:
Cultural responsiveness
New technologies
Overall benefits in underserved communities
Promote the creation and retention of meaningful, living wage jobs.
Potential Metrics
Number of energy-related college, vocational, and apprenticeship programs offering energy-related training opportunities and incentives to environmental justice communities.
Percentage of individuals enrolled, retained, and graduating who identify as environmental justice community members.
Percent of environmental justice community-owned business in a specified energy-related industry dependent on the program or policy.
Percent of policies supporting hiring, training, and retention of people from environmental justice communities.
Percentage of employees who live in the community where the work is taking place.
Percentage of program expenditures going to environmental justice community-owned businesses.
-
Provide community outreach and informational opportunities that include in-person engagement, and resources/tools that use plain/accessible language and are in multiple languages.
Partner with community organizations who are trained and compensated appropriately, with long-term funding, to be trusted partners who can design community outreach materials and act as community navigators in the field.
Consider opportunities to collaborate with city and county governments and utilities to best support communities and customers.
Potential Metrics
Number of people participating in processes and/or programs from environmental justice communities.
Number of materials developed (e.g. fact sheets, two-pagers, informational fliers) that are culturally specific (e.g. plain language, translated, regionally specific) and relevant and percentage of program materials available in multiple languages.
Number of partner environmental justice organizations/trusted community organizations participating in or distributing program materials.
Percentage of meetings hosted with interpretation and translation services.
-
Approach
Balance energy needs — like access to affordable energy and economic opportunity — with the needs of ecosystems and cultural priorities.
Make decisions that minimize harm to both communities and nature, including wildlife and natural resources, and ensure that environmental burdens and benefits are distributed equitably, without disproportionately impacting marginalized groups.
Potential Metrics
Increased salmon/wild fish populations/increased populations of endangered or culturally significant wildlife.
Improved outdoor air quality particularly in areas with disproportionately poor air quality.
Improved indoor air quality particularly in areas with disproportionately poor air quality.
Increased investment for wildfire risk management.
Reduction in heat island effects in urban areas – measured by relative temperatures in green spaces vs adjacent city spaces and reductions in average cooling load for local buildings.
Number of projects with community benefit plans or agreements.
Oregon Context
To create equitable strategies for accomplishing our state’s climate and energy goals, it is important to recognize there are disparities in how Oregonians experience benefits from or are burdened by our energy system.
For example, Oregonians who are energy burdened spend a greater proportion of their annual household income on home energy costs; a household is considered energy burdened if it spends more than 6 percent of its income on energy. Oregon is already experiencing the effects of climate change in the increased frequency of extreme weather and natural disasters, such as the 2021 heat dome which caused an estimated 116 deaths (of which the majority were older than 60, living alone and without access to air conditioning in their homes). The record 2020 wildfire season burned 1.49 million acres; the Labor Day mega fires alone burned over 850,000 acres, resulted in 11 deaths, and destroyed or damaged 4,000 homes. These wildfires devastated Talent and Phoenix, in particular destroying more than 1,700 mobile or manufacture homes, and the financial security of many community members, many of whom still do not have permanent replacement housing five years later. Climate change related emergencies have a direct effect on the health of the communities, and their resilience and recovery from these events is dependent on the community’s access to resources like local health care and emergency preparedness. Increased incidences of extreme weather can strain already limited resources for environmental justice communities.
The state is currently in the process of developing an Environmental Justice Mapping Tool to help identify communities underrepresented in government processes and harmed by environmental and health hazards. This tool, which is expected to be available in 2027, may provide more comprehensive insight into disparities created by the development and use of energy in the state and could be used in future updates of the Oregon Energy Strategy along with other relevant tools and data. These insights will be vital for developing equitable policy. However, even as that tool is under development, there should be a concerted effort by policy makers, agencies, and implementors to “meaningfully involve” and “fairly treat” those who have been historically and are currently excluded from decision making processes and actions. This is the goal with the Oregon Energy Strategy’s equity framework.