Clean Water Action has served since 2008 on the Steering Committee of the Green Justice Coalition (GJC), a partnership between labor and grassroots justice groups across Massachusetts, convened by our good friends at Community Labor United. Over the years, GJC has won a string of victories by growing the collective people power of community-based organizations, organized labor and environmental justice groups. Among these are major increases in funding for public transit, unprecedented access for many to energy efficiency programs, and green infrastructure included in ongoing planning processes.
Clean Water currently coordinates the GJC’s statewide energy efficiency campaign, which has been responsible for both raising and advancing almost all of the state’s gains in improved access for underserved residents. This has opened up new pathways for people who rent, non-English speakers and moderate-income households to the many benefits of energy efficiency, including lower energy costs and more comfortable homes. In addition, we’ve won healthy and family-sustaining job standards for industry workers, and helped the state find innovative ways to meet its climate pollution reduction goals.
With energy efficiency being the cheapest and most effective way to meet our energy needs and prevent ratepayers being saddled with expensive new gas pipelines, not to mention generating thousands of decent jobs in an entirely new industry, GJC is proud of our track record so far. And with so much opportunity on the horizon, we’re already looking ahead to the next opportunities to democratize and decarbonize our energy sector.