How does climate action intersect with racial justice and economic equity? How have systemic issues connected to energy and infrastructure development disproportionately harmed communities of color? How can we remediate the social, economic, and health burdens on unserved and underserved communities who are at the frontline of climate change? Join this BERC Energy Summit panel to learn from community and policy advocates about the critical work that is being done and needs to be done in order to ensure a transition that leaves no one behind.
Sara Chandler is the Managing Director of the Equity & Access program at Elemental Excelerator, which includes Elemental’s investment track to leverage climate-positive startups for opportunities for social equity. Sara creates local partnerships and supports project development by creating frameworks and tools that help operationalize equity to benefit startups and California‘s frontline communities at the same time. Sara also helps facilitate community engagement and public convenings to align climate startups with the needs and priorities of communities most vulnerable to climate change. Prior to Elemental Excelerator, Sara was at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission where she worked on local, state, and federal policy and managed special projects across the utility’s water, wastewater, and power enterprises. Sara is also a former Greenlining Institute Environmental Equity fellow. A graduate of Howard University School of Law, she enjoys the unique opportunity Elemental has to be a bridge to make social equity operational and technological innovation culturally relevant. Sara is also a proud alum of Emory University where she studied English and concentrated on literature of marginalized people in fiction.
Cristina is a PhD Candidate and Link Foundation Energy Fellow in the Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley and a Graduate Student Researcher in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She works on equitable urban energy transitions, focusing on quantifying energy poverty, and the impacts of electrifying residential energy demand on energy bills and grid infrastructure. She has been a Fulbright Spain scholar and received an MS in Industrial Engineering from École Centrale Paris and Universitat Politécnica de València.
Amee is the Policy and Research Director at Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN). She is a second-generation South Asian American born and raised on the East Coast. Her personal experiences have supported her awareness of how inequalities in the workplace, as well as the built and natural environment, influence community health. Through her role at APEN, she offers an environmental justice and health equity lens to climate and energy policy in California. She previously worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on research and advocacy addressing the environmental and occupational health impacts of extreme heat due to climate change. Amee graduated with an MS in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley School of Public Health. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and camping.
Alvaro is Vice President of Policy at the Greenlining Institute. He leads a team that develops policies that create a future where communities of color can build wealth, live in healthy places filled with economic opportunity, and are ready to meet the challenges posed by climate change. Under his leadership, The Greenlining Institute has shaped over $5.2 billion in California Climate Investments targeted at priority communities, established the Transformative Climate Communities and Regional Climate Collaboratives state programs via legislation, and launched the Towards Equitable Electric Mobility Community of Practice, a multi-state effort to advance equitable electric mobility policies. Alvaro has over a decade of experience working on economic development and land use issues throughout California and nationally. He is on the board of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, the advisory board of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation.