Decarceration with Decarbonization: Renewable Rikers and the Transition to Clean Power

Rebecca Bratspies’ article in the San Diego Journal of Climate and Energy Law offers New York City’s Renewable Rikers project as an example of how the transition to clean power might be done, and how communities might combine decarbonization with decarceration in order to build a more just and sustainable society. By putting racial justice and overburdened communities at the center of building a clean energy grid, Renewable Rikers offers a model for genuine and transformative change that confronts root causes of inequality and builds a better, fairer city.