How Can Climate Solutions Promote Inclusivity and Equity?

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Research Questions Addressed

What are the equity-related risks, barriers, and opportunities associated with selected carbon mitigation technologies?

What recommendations can be offered to help ensure a more equitable transition to a low-carbon economy?

What educational, institutional, and policy interventions can help to advance equity across selected carbon solutions?

Primary Findings

By engaging experts and stakeholders, this report addresses challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for advancing equity among selected carbon reduction solutions. The solutions are derived from the Drawdown Georgia research effort, and the report contributes to a deeper understanding of how equity considerations can be more fully integrated into climate action. The findings highlight barriers associated with: solution awareness; affordability; wealth inequities affecting communities with the greatest energy burden; racial inequities in access to loans for capital investment; gaps in rural broadband and mobility infrastructure; misalignment between the requirements and processes of governmental programs and communities with the greatest need; heirs’ property land tenure that reflects historic racial discrimination; and policy, particularly with respect to scaling up solutions such as solar and conservation agriculture, as well as institutional food procurement practices that make sourcing from small farms to institutions very difficult.