In June, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that May 2024 was the hottest May on record, marking 12 consecutive months of record-breaking global temperatures. To slow this alarming trend and mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, cities across the US are setting ambitious goals to decarbonize—or end their reliance on energy sources like oil, gas, and coal that emit planet-warming greenhouse gasses.

But transitioning to renewable energy sources like wind and solar is not just a technical task for engineers. It requires major social, political, and economic changes that could transform lives and livelihoods in both positive and negative ways. Past energy transitions—notably the transitions from wood to coal and coal to oil in the 19th and 20th centuries—generated massive revenues for new energy industries. But these benefits were often at the expense of people and communities with fewer resources, who experienced job losses and economic decline.

As outlined in our new Urban Institute report, the current transition to renewable energy could repeat many of the same harms unless city planners and policymakers embed equity throughout every stage of decarbonization planning, implementation, and evaluation. This requires targeting resources and investments to communities likely to lack fair access to the new energy economy, such as communities with low incomes and communities of color.

Here are three ways city leaders can integrate equity into efforts to end their reliance on fossil fuels:

  1. Support climate-friendly industries while expanding access to high-quality green jobs.
  2. Ensure improvements to the built environment will create a healthier, more inclusive city.
  3. Help businesses and households transition to renewable energy sources.

Local decarbonization efforts are well underway in cities across the country. In 2021, more than 130 US mayors joined Cities Race to Zero, a United Nations campaign to encourage urban leaders to reach net-zero emissions. As local leaders pursue ambitious climate goals, embedding equity into these efforts can help ensure the harms of past energy transitions aren’t repeated and that people with low incomes, people of color, and other historically marginalized groups share fairly in the benefits.

Read the full article about renewable energy by Samantha Fu, Anne N. Junod, and Sara McTarnaghan at Urban Institute.