On May 21, the Center for Progressive Reform hosted a webinar, “Exploring Community Benefits Alongside Former DOE Officials: Achievements, Challenges, and What Lies Ahead.” Former Department of Energy (DOE) officials and our moderator explored how Community Benefits Plans (CBPs) provided a coherent framework and played a key role tying together climate, energy, labor, and DEIJ goals during the Biden administration. They assessed the obstacles that emerged during implementation and how to address these challenges in the future.
Panelists explained the steps that are necessary for effective policy implementation, what worked well inside DOE and what didn’t, and how CBPs remain a valuable implementation tool for achieving multiple policy goals simultaneously.
Offering their insights were:
- Shalanda Baker: Professor of Environment and Sustainability; Vice Provost for Sustainability and Climate Action, University of Michigan. During the Biden-Harris administration, she served as the Director of the Office of Energy Justice and Equity at the U.S. Department of Energy.
- Betony Jones: Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and Senior Policy Research Advisor on the Green Economy at the UC Berkeley Labor Center. During the Biden-Harris administration, she served as Director of the Office of Energy Jobs and Senior Advisor for Labor to the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy.
- Sara Wylie: Associate Professor at Northeastern University with a joint appointment in sociology/anthropology and health sciences. During the Biden-Harris administration, she served as Energy Justice Science, Technology and Policy Fellow with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity.
- Moderator: Federico Holm, research scientist at the Center for Progressive Reform.
A recording of this webinar is available on YouTube.
Additional resources
- Slide deck
- “Community Benefits and Climate Investment: Addressing the ‘Climate-DEIA-Labor’ Nexus via Community Benefits Plans” by Federico Holm, Center for Progressive Reform
- Tying Labor Standards to Clean Energy Incentives: How Biden’s Department of Energy Tackled Climate Industrial Policy by Betony Jones, Roosevelt Institute
- The Receipts: The Untold and Underappreciated Outcomes of Biden’s Clean Energy Strategy, by Betony Jones and Joe Peck, Roosevelt Institute
- Archived Department of Energy Community Benefits Planning Forum
