We Have to Work Harder to Make Sustainability More Diverse, Inclusive, and Representative
I made it out to Scottsdale, AZ in mid-February for GreenBiz’22, the second in-person conference I’ve attended since 2019. (1) I met (in person!) so many people devoted to not only eliminating the negative impacts their companies make and have made in the world but also to finding ways their companies can have beneficial impacts on the planet and people. Through my conversations and conference sessions, I left with the following impressions about the current world of corporate sustainability: first, the sustainability community continues to have a big problem with diversity and we must actively work to change this; second, WATER is the new carbon; and finally, shoot for imperfect but better to keep making progress. This post addresses the first observation. I asked Lisa Flick Wilson, an Atlanta-based racial healing advisor, to collaborate with me on this post. Lisa is the co-founder and member of the Radical Optimist Collective.
There is a Long Way to Go to Make Sustainability More Inclusive and Representative
Without a diversity of perspectives, the middle of the ESG equation (the “S” for social good) falls flat. There is a serious risk of reflecting colonialist ideas about one group of people knowing what’s best for another. As a white person, I am not an expert in this space, but I am an ally who is working to actively become smarter and better in this area. I am concerned when I do not see diverse perspectives represented—it is a big red flag. It is essential to correct the representation problem in corporate sustainability.
Sitting in the rooms for the GreenBiz’22 conference kept giving me the uneasy feeling: why is this room so white? The U.S. Census in 2020 showed that the Hispanic or Latino population grew by 23% between 2010 and 2020, the multiracial population increased by 276% over that time, and the people self-reporting their race and ethnicity as white alone declined by 8.6%. The Census Bureau reported that all of the categories where respondents described themselves as a non-white race alone or in combination showed increases. Those describing themselves as “Some Other Race” alone or in combination increased 129% since 2010’s census (49.9 million) surpassing the group describing themselves as Black or African American (46.9 million) as the second-largest race alone or in a combination group. (2)
So, why does the sustainability community, as reflected at GreenBiz’22, still not reflect the diversity of our communities and nation? Sure, we might blame COVID, or people not feeling safe enough to travel, but honestly, those are excuses. We know this is a deep-rooted problem in the overall environmental and sustainability industry. We must do more to welcome, encourage, and demand increases in racial and ethnic representation and inclusion in the work and leadership of the sustainability movement.
A session on diversity and inclusion on the second day of the conference provided an excellent discussion on this subject, bringing in the essential components of justice, community, and representation. But it was made to a half-empty ballroom. Had the organizers queued up this session on day one, alongside the initial keynote addresses where it belonged as a priority, the room might have been full and attendees could have seen GreenBiz as an organization wrestling with diversity, equity, and inclusion as a priority. (3)
People most affected by the changes must be at the table and leading the discussions effecting the change.
The sustainability community must reflect the communities affected by corporate activities, behaviors, and impacts so that they have the opportunity to inform, influence, and affect the ways companies address their environmental and social impacts. And yes, these communities are disproportionately Black and Brown. We do not need another study to tell us once again that the people who suffer disproportionately more from the environmental issues targeted in the sustainability movement — pollution and climate change — are members of traditionally underrepresented groups. (And no, that is not a coincidence.)
Google Maps image of a refinery area in Texas City, TX, with neighborhoods nearby.
In my career, I’ve seen underrepresented communities impacted in almost every case I have reviewed.
The first example came in my first federal program evaluation, focused on improving compliance at petroleum refineries. Our fieldwork took us to what was at the time one of the largest petroleum refineries in the country in Texas City, Texas. (4) As our rental car came down the highway, we could smell the petroleum byproducts in the air. “The smell of money,” people called it. The refinery and its colocated chemical plants were surrounded by residential areas: single-family homes, apartment buildings, churches, playgrounds, and schools. Children played blocks from refinery processes and storage tanks emitting airborne chemicals that are known or suspected cancer-causing agents, responsible for developmental and reproductive problems. When their requests to the state and local governments for more help did not result in what they were seeking, the community had self-organized to collect air samples along the fenceline so they could learn what kinds of pollutants they were inhaling.
Taking Action
There are some promising efforts afoot to bring BIPOC representation (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) into the sustainability space. An afternoon conference session touched on the work described by Heather McTeer-Tony at Environmental Defense Fund, Michael Kobori at Starbucks, Alfredo Gonzalez Valenzuela of Mobilize Green, and Danielle Decatur of Microsoft, providing inspiration and direction.
The emphasis on sustainability that encompasses and is driven by underrepresented communities has frequently adopted the description, “Just Transition.” Just Transition reflects Indigenous principles of honoring the Earth and returning to a way of life that is in harmony with it. It reflects the reality that a transition is inevitable, but justice is not. Instead, we need to establish systems and practices that ingrain justice into sustainability work even more. The Climate Justice Alliance consolidated principles of Just Transition and presents the descriptions of eight principles for an inclusive sustainability journey. These principles paint a picture of equality, inclusive dialog and decision-making, and supportive and intentional community, but they also remind me how far we are from this world. (5)
There is a long way to go, and it is everyone’s job to get there.
There are a few intentional steps that we can take today to make sure we’re on the pathway:
First, organizers of meetings and conferences like GreenBiz must prioritize engaging with speakers from BIPOC communities early and often. There are plenty of amazing voices out there who need to be heard on these issues. We can all request and suggest BIPOC speakers to conference organizers, and encourage their engagement on the conference organizing committee
Second, organizers must highlight the problem and present solutions. GreenBiz has started a sibling organization to work on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, but this organization only received a brief mention on the main stage. I am eager to see how this work develops and to contribute as an ally and supporter if and when it is appropriate. Attendees could have left with the impression that the hard work going on in this new organization was an aside as compared with other issues discussed at the conference. We can demonstrate that discussing DEI in sustainability should be a primary topic, and when it is not, we can publicly press for more high-priority discussions.
Third, company DEI programs must ensure that their recruitment, advancement, feedback, and change mechanisms fully include sustainability programs as well. We can actively seek out and promote candidates for sustainability positions and leadership who represent BIPOC communities and make sure that our discussions and other feedback mechanisms promote a diversity of opinions, representation, and suggestions. We can seek regular, voluntary, meaningful feedback on how and whether this is working from employees, stakeholders, and communities, and make changes when it is not working.
What other steps can white sustainability professionals take to help improve diversity, inclusion, and equity in sustainability, and to improve our own awareness around these issues? We must continue to do our own personal work. The internal work needed to look inside at our own biases and actions that continue to harm BIPOC folks and communities. And we need to be honest about it, not from a place of shame and guilt but from a place of honesty, acknowledgment, and growth. Additionally, the next GreenBiz event will be held in my hometown, Atlanta, this spring. Among other steps, I’m hoping GreenBiz will make sure there is plenty of opportunity for attendance from our historically Black colleges and universities, engage with the local and regional organizations working on environmental justice and equity issues (there are many), and I’ve offered my help.
I hope to see change quickly in the sustainability community, and I am committed to helping make this change happen.
End notes:
(1) GreenBiz convened thousands of sustainability professionals in Scottsdale, AZ under strict health and sustainability-focused conditions. Attendees had to abide by strict Covid protocols including proof of vaccination, daily testing, and strict mast-wearing indoors. Conference organizers managed these requirements alongside a massive effort with WM to reduce conference waste as much as possible. On the first day of the conference, they reported that only 1% of waste went to a landfill: 19 pounds. The rest was recycled by WM or Terracycle, with all food waste donated or composted (all provided meals and snacks were vegan). The attendees’ travel-related carbon was offset based on their mode and distance of travel. At the same time, GreenBiz put on a wide-ranging conference with world-class speakers, subjects, and discussions. Talk about walking and chewing gum at the same time. The conference was a model for how to meet in a post-tipping point world.
(2) The U.S. Census Bureau points out that they improved the questions around race and ethnicity, so these changes should be reviewed carefully based on their intended use. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html
(3) GreenBiz has established a new nonprofit arm, “to nurture and empower BIPOC professionals to accelerate a just transition to a clean economy.”
(4) The refinery I toured exploded on my birthday a year later, killing 15 workers, injuring 180 others. https://www.csb.gov/bp-america-refinery-explosion/
(5) To learn more, I recommend the Climate Justice Alliance website on this subject: https://climatejusticealliance.org/just-transition/