ENERGY TRANSITION THAT’S FAIR
Going 100 per cent renewable must include everyone, writes Emily Eaton
On June 17, city councillors will be discussing how to implement a motion to make Regina 100-per-cent renewable by 2050. A lot has changed since the motion’s adoption in 2018. Many of us have been forced to radically change the ways we take care of our families, move about the city and procure our necessities. Many of us have suffered layoffs and lost incomes while others have had to juggle full-time work with full-time care responsibilities. This has been painful for our economies and our lives, but it has also given us an opportunity to reimagine our common future, a future that prioritizes caring for one another and securing our community’s health and safety.
Transitioning to 100 per cent renewable energy will similarly require wholesale transformations to how we move about the city, how and where we work, how we access services and how we live and take care of one another. It will also help to secure a safe and healthy future for us all. As the COVID -19 crisis has made clear, large-scale changes impact people differently. While we are all weathering the COVID -19 storm together, we are in different boats when it comes to our experiences, our vulnerabilities and our resilience. As we emerge from this pandemic, our challenge is to chart out a new normal that is more equitable and secure for us all.
In 2019, our team of university researchers and community partners conducted focus groups with 38 Regina-based organizations to discover how the City of Regina could ensure its renewable energy framework benefits residents who have been marginalized in the old economy, including people living in poverty, Indigenous people, racialized groups, women, LGBTQ2S+ people, youth and people living with disabilities. If the city and its councillors ignore equity in their renewable energy framework, they risk limiting the effectiveness of their policies and further exacerbating existing inequalities within our city. The City of Portland learned this lesson the hard way after its sustainability policies stalled because they hadn’t considered how different people (especially people of colour and women) experience safety and accessibility barriers unevenly.
Here are five equity-focused policies, emerging from our research, that need to be prioritized in Regina’s renewable energy framework.
— First, the city should phase in fare-free public transit. Marginalized people, youth and people living in poverty are likely to benefit most from fare-free public transit as they spend a larger portion of their income on transportation and have less access to personal vehicles, but fare-free transit will benefit us all by reducing congestion and allowing everyone to bring down their costs of living.
— Second, we should increase the safety and accessibility of walking, biking and public transit. Dedicated bike lanes, increased lighting, better crossings, more snow removal and pedestrian access to all parts of the city would improve safety and accessibility in Regina.
— Third, the city should invest in parks and outdoor recreation and increase green space. This is particularly important in marginalized communities and core neighbourhoods where opportunities for low-carbon recreation are fewer and where space is used up by parking lots that service the downtown.
— Fourth, together with Saskpower, we need to explore opportunities for the generation of renewable power by and for communities.
— And finally, together with the province and Saskpower, we must explore opportunities for financing renewable energy and retrofits for organizations and individuals who cannot afford the upfront costs.
Building on the community values that have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, council needs to create an energy transition framework that is just, equitable and leaves no one behind so that we can build a better Regina.