During the Trump era, connections among white-male power, the environment, fossil fuels, and social injustices have become more blatant. In response, new alliances and new leaders are getting involved, speaking out, and exerting global influence. As the risks of the climate crisis grow and the renewable revolution accelerates in a world of growing socio-economic and racial inequities, diversifying leadership on climate and energy is increasingly important. Integrating a gendered antiracist lens in all climate and energy initiatives is essential for the transformation that is required.

Connecting Climate Risks and Social Justice

As a female scientist who has been working on climate and energy issues for the past 20 years, I am increasingly aware of the research that confirms the need to diversify leadership in climate and energy policy. It is becoming more and more apparent to me and many others that humanity’s inadequacy, so far, in reducing the risks of climate change results from a patriarchal society that continues to concentrate wealth and power through oppressive systems that give disproportionate influence to a few rich people.

It is becoming more and more apparent to me and many others that humanity’s inadequacy, so far, in reducing the risks of climate change results from a patriarchal society that continues to concentrate wealth and power through oppressive systems that give disproportionate influence to a few rich people.

As my forthcoming book, Diversifying Power: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership on Climate and Energy (Island Press 2020), argues, many of those with power are white men whose advocacy for inadequate climate strategies protects rather than challenges the status quo.

As these linkages have become increasingly obvious, organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are helping to communicate how communities of color have been strategically manipulated and taken advantage of by fossil fuel interests. The NAACP’s environmental and climate justice program recently released an illustrated, easy-to-read report calling out the top-ten fossil fuel industry predatory tactics. These include investing in efforts to undermine democracy, funding scientists to publish biased research, shifting blame to the communities they are polluting, co-opting community leaders and misrepresenting the interests of communities. This accessible and influential NAACP report is just one powerful example of how the linkages between climate change and social justice are being increasingly recognized.

Inspiring New Leaders

Recognizing this, we need to encourage new leaders in energy and climate. In particular, we need more women and people of color so that more inclusive priorities are integrated into climate and energy policy. In order to represent the public good rather than prioritizing corporate interests, we need to diversify who is involved. We need leadership that recognizes how fossil fuel interests have been perpetuating injustices. Given where we are, effective responses to climate change must now be directly linked to redistributing wealth and power. That means that feminist, antiracist priorities must be at the core of all climate and energy policy.

Given where we are, effective responses to climate change must now be directly linked to redistributing wealth and power. That means that feminist, antiracist priorities must be at the core of all climate and energy policy.

A more transformative approach to energy policy is desperately needed, but we can only achieve change with more diverse and inclusive leadership on climate and energy.

The good news is that this diversification is happening! I am inspired by new young leaders, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s leadership on the Green New Deal and Greta Thunberg’s mobilization of the global climate youth movement. We can now see how conversations are shifting in response to new influential voices.

Recently published research shows that countries with more women in leadership positions adopt more stringent climate change policies.

Recently published research shows that countries with more women in leadership positions adopt more stringent climate change policies.

This analysis of 91 countries concludes that increasing female political representation is an under-recognized mechanism for addressing the climate crisis and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This study is consistent with other research showing that women have greater awareness and concern about environmental issues and that diversity of all kinds encourages innovation.

Increased diversity in climate and energy connects climate action with issues of economic and racial justice. An emerging social movement focused on “energy democracy”  is mobilizing diverse coalitions of individuals and organizations who recognize how the transformation away from fossil fuel to renewable energy can also redistribute political and economic power. The energy democracy movement involves people who are actively resisting fossil fuel power, communities who are reclaiming energy systems for the public good, and advocates who are restructuring energy ownership and benefits to be distributed rather than concentrated.

Innovation and Imagination

There are reasons to be optimistic! A lack of diverse leadership on climate and energy policy has caused a broader lack of imagination about what we can achieve toward renewable transformation. But as leadership on climate and energy diversifies, our imagination is flourishing.

A lack of diverse leadership on climate and energy policy has caused a broader lack of imagination about what we can achieve toward renewable transformation.

The Reflective Democracy Campaign maintains a database of candidates and elected officials by race and gender, and it demonstrates the shifting demographics of power in American politics. Their June 2019 report shows that white men still make up 62% of elected positions despite constituting only 30% of the population. But between 2012 and 2018 there were substantial increases in the number of women and women of color who ran for office. Today, in 2019, women make up 31% of elected positions across local, state and federal races. That represents an increase from 28% in 2015 and a 10% rate of increase over four years.

To accelerate this shift in leadership, men and women of all races must support diverse candidates and take steps to broaden representation and include more diverse perspectives. As Ibram X. Kendi so eloquently explains in his new 2019 book How to Be an Antiracist, there is no space for neutrality in the struggle with racism. If we are not actively and intentionally trying to diversify leadership, we are perpetuating the status quo and limiting the potential for transformation.