ASG positioned to help firms meet MA’s new environmental justice mandate

Op-Eds

This Op-Ed was originally posted on Boston Business Journal’s website on April 1st, 2024 (https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2024/04/01/ma-environmental-justice-asg.html)

Graphic with hands passing a lightbulb and text that reads “A transition to Clean Energy that puts Communities First,” alongside the ASG logo.

While the clean energy revolution has benefitted thousands through new jobs, cleaner air, and lower utility bills, our most vulnerable communities have been left in the smog, suffering under systems of environmental injustice.

The next big challenge for companies across our commonwealth will be bringing clean energy equity to the forefront of their business practices.

With a decade of experience in multicultural marketing and diverse community engagement, Archipelago Strategies Group (ASG) is uniquely positioned to be a partner in clean energy equity projects.

This February, the Healey-Driscoll Administration launched the commonwealth’s first environmental justice strategy, a visionary plan to combat these injustices which have left low-income and communities of color overburdened by high utility bills and outsized exposure to pollution and asthma.

“It is a historic moment, because we are addressing the harms and trying to reverse decades and generations of environmental injustice in the most overburdened and vulnerable populations,” said Undersecretary of Environmental Justice and Equity María Belén Power during a press conference unveiling the plan.

Banner with ASG logo and text “Leading to positive energy equity outcomes,” featuring a hand holding green energy symbols and red houses.

Broadly speaking, the new mandate requires the commonwealth to prioritize the following three pillars of environmental justice for projects:

  • Diverse community engagement: The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and its agencies will promote building of relationships with environmental justice communities, including community-led processes designed with and for EJ communities.
  • Analysis of project impacts on environmental justice: Agencies will assess the impacts of projects using available state mapping and screening tools to identify EJ neighborhoods and evaluate project impacts in these areas.
  • Ensuring language accessibility: The secretariat will develop and adopt language access plans to ensure meaningful access to services, programs, and activities for people who have limited English proficiency. EEA and its agencies will evaluate the circumstances and language access needs of projects.

ASG has worked with a diverse array of clients in these areas, including: a major utility; a local construction developer; and the commonwealth of Massachusetts — successfully exceeding equity and inclusivity goals in each engagement.

According to an analysis by Foley Hoag, “Companies that do business near or otherwise serve EJ communities should consider how these new statewide strategies may affect existing projects and future interactions with the agencies and department of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA).”

The administration will be focusing on clean energy and sustainability projects in low-income and majority-minority communities with residents who speak other languages than English in the home.

According to the Foley Hoag analysis, some common threads across EEA’s major departments and offices include: new and improved incentive structures for incorporating environmental justice criteria into project funding and grant awards; equitable policies prioritizing EJ populations in Brownfields remediation and redevelopment programs; and increased integration of EJ communities in outreach, environmental monitoring, and public engagement.

Banner with ASG logo and text “Working for a Clean Energy Future,” showing diverse people sitting on a globe against a green background.

ASG stands ready to assist companies and public organizations in these efforts, using our decade of experience in marketing with purpose that has led to record results for clients.

As a result of our leadership, ASG has been recognized by the Boston Business Journal as one of the region’s fastest growing companies, as well as a top Women-Owned Business. Additionally, as a certified Minority-Owned Business Enterprise and approved vendor of the commonwealth, ASG can help firms fill-out a diverse and experienced project team.

At ASG, we bring an authentic commitment to helping the diverse communities we serve. Our roster of skilled marketing consultants and community engagement specialists are multilingual, bringing the region’s top-spoken languages to projects, helping to build diverse, local support.

We share the administration’s goal of connecting with those who are often voiceless in environmental discussions and bringing them to the forefront. Let’s work together to ensure every resident can thrive under our clean energy revolution.