House in rural neighborhood with a factory and pollution in the background.

Diversity, equity, inclusion and access road map

The White House articulates the Justice40 Initiative 8 seeks to restore environmental justice to Disadvantaged Communities (DACs), including Tribal Nations, and historically redlined communities that have historically been overburdened by pollution and economic stress.

A key objective of EPIXC is to determine the ways that historically burdened communities in the US could benefit from the decarbonization of manufacturing facilities in the Institute’s 5 Key Application Areas (KAAs). To address this question, EPIXC will create data sets that merge emissions information and environmental and energy justice indicators, leveraging publicly available sources, including Department of Energy (DOE) Justice 40’s Disadvantaged Communities Reporter, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) EJ Screen and EPA Facility Level Information on Greenhouse Gases Tool (FLIGHT).

By including energy, economic and environmental justice as a basis for decision-making in technology deployment (and embedding this information in the tools developed as part of KAA 3), EPIXC will ensure that the Institute outcomes deliver measurably the maximum environmental and energy justice benefits of electric heating. DEIA will be integrated in the Institutes roadmap.

A tool we will utilize identifying and tracking is EJ40 maps, such as this one for Port Arthur, Texas.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of measurable approaches that can be used to demonstrate a multiplicity of co-benefits.

Detailed baseline analysis of communities in industrial complex vicinity informed by data from several publicly available sources, including DOE’s Justice 40 Disadvantaged Communities Reporter, EPA’s EJScreen, and EPA’s Facility Level Information on Greenhouse Gases Tool (FLIGHT). Descriptor of how your project will improve key DAC indicators along with data to be collected, analyzed and reported to prove impact (e.g. water and air quality, waste reduction, public health, local job creation etc.) and include any relevant team experience. Note: we will need to agree on indicators and methodologies so that we can compare apples to apples.

Inclusive DEIA credentialed workforce development should include metrics for: number of program participants; list of program participant names; volunteer self-reported demographic breakdown; participant micro survey results; curriculum developed; type of jobs, average salaries, and ability to track employment impact in sector over a five-year period. This can be achieved for example through:

  • Meaningful inclusion of faculty and student members of MSI’s, HBCU’s, ICU’s, HSI’s, and veterans in research efforts (other metrics: clear identification of partnering institutes, key research leadership roles, number, location and type of internships, inclusion on publications and patents, funding distribution etc.).
  • Meaningful inclusion of industry or industrial trade association(s) in local industry recognized/certified training-to-jobs program development or expansion and implementation for fence line communities (clear identification of partnering organizations, number and types of actual local jobs created; number and types of potential future local jobs saved or gained)
  • Thoughtful community engagement to develop and implement workforce development registered training-to-jobs programs (other metrics: engagement with local unions/workforce development organizations/community colleges to develop paid industry recognized apprenticeship and certification programs that lead to employment)
  • Meaningful inclusion of Minority Business Enterprises, Minority-Owned Businesses, Woman-Owned Businesses, Veteran-Owned Businesses,
  • Creation of summer high school targeted industrial bootcamps for graduating seniors in DACs