Browning the Green Space (BGS) was born from the realization that people of color often receive more than their fair share of “environmental bads” like brownfields, pollution, and asthma while they receive less than their fair share of “environmental goods” like cleantech jobs in energy efficiency, renewable energy, water, wasted food, and urban farming. The BGS Initiative operates at the intersection of environmental justice, economic justice, and social justice.

Browning the Green Space is a coalition of leaders and organizations, primarily in the New England region, that share the passion to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) in clean energy. Our goal is to increase the participation and leadership of Black and Brown people and of women (collectively, “underrepresented groups”) in the clean energy space and beyond (e.g., wasted food, water, agtech) in the Northeast.

Our key insight is that the clean energy sector is a complex system involving a multitude of participants and sub-sectors that needs to take a system-based approach to promote DEI objectives. BGS needs to involve people and organizations across multiple sectors. For instance, when we have leaders in education, business, and public sectors together who are all committed to DEI objectives, we can then gain the necessary know-how, resources, and sustainable focus to understand and then address the underemployment of people of color, especially young people, in the clean energy space.