12 Fight Dirty Energy & Support a Just Transition

Design Justice demands that the design and construction industries divest from dirty energy and support a Just Transition towards community-controlled power process on the path to decarbonization. The clean energy economy of the future must not cause harm to the environment or people in the generation, transmission, and distribution of energy.

Design Justice demands that the design and construction industries divest from dirty energy and support a Just Transition towards community-controlled power add process on the path to decarbonization. The clean energy economy of the future must not cause harm to the environment or people in the generation, transmission, and distribution of energy. We acknowledge that sometimes the best answer may be within the existing building stock, and that increasing energy efficiency in buildings is just as important and in many ways more sustainable than building new net zero or net positive buildings. A Just Transition means we must repair past harm and shift power to local, regenerative and build on community-led solutions for a just future.  We must acknowledge the importance of post occupancy evaluations of the built environment to make sure the spaces are working as intended.The construction and building industry make up almost 40% of energy related carbon emissions and have been historically responsible for exploiting both land and labor. In the process of decarbonization it is vital to acknowledge historic harm and prevent future harm caused to communities, mostly Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian, systematically excluded by the energy sector.