The Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) is an independent, nonpartisan research and analysis nonprofit. Our mission is to accelerate decarbonization and achieve an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest at the speed and scale that climate science requires.
CETI seeks an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest that:
· Recognizes the systemic political frameworks and socioeconomic factors that have historically and disproportionately harm marginalized Northwest communities.
· Promotes a restorative energy future that addresses the lasting impacts of past harms and exploitation.
· Ensures that past harms are not perpetuated, and historically marginalized communities do not face disproportionate economic and environmental burdens as the clean energy transition unfolds.
· Requires the equitable distribution of health and environmental benefits and economic investments to historically marginalized households and communities.
· Enables energy-burdened and low-income communities to access reliable, affordable clean energy.
· Distributes workforce development and job training investments equitably, prioritizing communities historically lacking access to affordable energy, as well as workers whose livelihoods will be displaced by the clean energy transition.
· Enables historically marginalized communities to define how decarbonization strategies and clean energy projects are best deployed for them.
CETI works to realize this vision of an equitable clean energy transition by applying the four dimensions of energy justice – recognition, procedural, distributive, and restorative – in its work.
We use a systemic, economy-wide lens to advance technical, economic, and equitable decarbonization solutions tailored to the landscape of the Northwest states—Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington—by:
· Providing independent, unbiased research and analytics on deep decarbonization pathways that account for the Northwest’s unique characteristics.
· Framing, translating, and demystifying complex decarbonization solutions, including their impacts on emissions, community health, and workforce.
· Convening shareholders and decision makers to debate the trade-offs and opportunities inherent in decarbonization and to chart paths to a clean energy transition.
· Elevating the voices of rural, energy-burdened, and low-income communities to ensure they are full participants in defining the benefits and challenges of decarbonization.
· Using our unbiased analysis to encourage fact-based conversations that steer limited resources toward equitable policy solutions and strategies.
We have a very small window within which to address the climate crisis. Governments, utilities, businesses, advocates, and policymakers in the Northwest must move swiftly to implement viable, equitable, clean energy solutions. They need analysis from a trusted, data-driven convener to assess and implement smart strategies to achieve economy-wide decarbonization. A wide range of shareholders value our unbiased expertise to guide their decision making.
The Clean Energy Transition Institute is located in Seattle, WA on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded land of the Coast Salish people, which includes the Suquamish, Duwamish, and Stillaguamish tribes. CETI recognizes and honors their history and their past and ongoing stewardship of this land. We also acknowledge their history of dispossession and forced removal, and we respect their right to sovereignty and self-determination.
