Closing the Diversity Gap in Clean Energy

Challenge

Closing the diversity gap in clean energy.

Actions

The clean energy industry lags behind the general workforce in women, black Americans, and Hispanics. And the general workforce is not even representative of the general population. REBA has attracted plenty of talented women; in fact, 62% of REBA’s staff, and 57% of REBA’s non-C-suite leadership team are female. However, we have struggle to attract candidates who are African American, Hispanic, or Native American. And we have struggle in other forms of diversity as well—such as diversity of political persuasion and religion. The people of color on our team not black or Hispanic. Actions we have taken on this topic include: ensuring all jobs are posted at HBUCs on Handshake; posting jobs at the American Association for Blacks in Energy; reaching out directly to develop relationships and speak to students at Howard University and Wayne State University; specific outreach to the CEO’s network where people are more connected with communities of color.

Outcomes

The truth is that we have had limited success. While the applicants have become more diverse, it has still been a significant challenge diversifying our candidate pool, and we have continued to add white/Caucasian/European Americans to the REBA team. This is an area where I hope to learn from others’ success as part of the CEO Pledge network.

Quote

Although REBA defines diversity very broadly, our industry—the clean energy and NGO communities—are particularly challenged with hiring black Americans, Hispanics, and women. While we have made intentional and focused efforts, REBA’s success has been limited in hiring people of color. I am looking forward to learning more about how to ensure that REBA is an inclusive organization, our job postings are not biased, and our communities of outreach are broad.

Miranda AA Ballentine
CEO, Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA)
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