The Energy Democracy Scorecard and Flipbook
According to the Energy Democracy Scorecard and Flipbook from the Emerald Cities Collaborative, “Energy Democracy” is defined as an ideal scenario where a frontline community “shifts completely away from an extractive economy, energy, and governance system to one that is regenerative, provides reparations, transforms the power structures, and creates new governance and ownership practices.” The Energy Democracy Flipbook is designed to help frontline communities, such as low-income people of color, who are vulnerable to climate change to self-evaluate their communities’ energy economy condition.
The Energy Democracy Scorecard
The Energy Democracy Scorecard provides a framework for frontline communities to reach the ultimate goal of energy democracy. The book aims to help frontline communities utilize the moment when societies are developing green energy to address long-time social and environmental injustices and to gradually shift from the extractive and burdensome energy system. The book identifies four main issues/criteria of energy democracy:
- Social Justice: addresses issues of racism, inequity, inequitable access, health and land rights.
- Regenerative Energy Systems: addresses the type of energy we use, pollution, energy policy goals, and energy infrastructure.
- Moral Economy: addresses fair labor and wages, economic ownership, workforce development and training, finance, and just transition.
- Governance: addresses how decisions are made, who controls the energy and political access, and where ownership ultimately lies.
Based on their own needs, communities can utilize the Scorecard to choose the most suitable platforms to help build energy democracy. The Scorecard provides five platforms of three categories:
- Popular education
- Flipbook
- Playing Deck
- Assessment, Accountability, and Analysis
- Matrix
- Online Quiz
- Advocacy
- Poster
The Energy Democracy Flipbook
The Energy Democracy Flipbook provides an education tool, an assessment, and an accountability mechanism - and offers communities a guide to determine where they are on the energy spectrum. The Flipbook uses the four major issues/criteria mentioned above to define energy democracy and further set three types of conditions:
Energy Democracy: Thriving community and healthy environment
This is the ideal scenario where the community has completely shifted from the extractive economy, energy, and governance system to a regenerative and empowered society which has created new governance and ownership practices.
Better, But not Great
This condition means that the community is to some degree shifting away from the traditional fossil-fuel extraction and gradually enter into more community-engaged processes and green job solutions. However, the issue of social justice has not yet been dealt with directly.
Extractive: Harms the community and environment
This is the most undesired scenario where communities’ labor and health are still being exploited for profit in violent and polluting ways.
The frontline communities such as black, brown, indigenous, and low-income communities which resources and laborers have long been exploited can utilize this flipbook to assess what communities are experiencing and further set goals to change the status quo.
Publication Date: January 2020
Authors or Affiliated Users:
- Anthony Giancatarino
- Donna House
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Resource Types:
- Education/training materials
- Tool (general)
