For Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Contact: Olivia Tran, olivia@riffcitystrategies.com
Twenty New Environmental Organizations Commit to Green 2.0’s Pay Equity Pledge to Close the Wage Gap in the Green Movement
Women are still only earning 82% of what men earn. First & only diversity watchdog in the green movement (backed by Sierra Club, NRDC, & more) addresses wage gap with first-of-its-kind pay equity pledge
Washington, DC — Green 2.0 – the independent campaign working to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the environmental movement – today, announced that twenty new major environmental organizations have taken Green 2.0’s Pay Equity Pledge to close the pay gap in the green movement, including Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Earthjustice. Since the launch, a total of 37 top environmental organizations have pledged to address any pay inequities found in their organizations to increase transparency and accountability toward winning an environmental strategy that supports all communities.
Women and people of color make significantly less than their peers because of the existing wage gap. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women only earned 82.3% of what men earned in 2020, and the wage gap was even wider for women of color. A Latina earns only 49 cents for every dollar, a Black woman receives 58 cents, and a Native American woman earns only 50 cents.
“We will not build a winning movement if leading environmental organizations are paying their staff of color, and especially women of color, less than their white or male colleagues,” said Adriane Alicea, deputy director of Green 2.0. “Our pay equity pledge is an important step to push the green movement towards an equitable future. We call on others who remain silent to stop standing on the sidelines. It’s critical we make ‘equal pay for equal work’ the norm and ensure people of color have a seat that can stay at the decision-making table.”
Launched in July 2022, the pledge calls on environmental organizations to review their staff wages across racial, ethnic, and gender demographics. Organizations must submit quarterly progress reports to Green 2.0 to remediate pay disparities identified during the analysis. The 37 pledgers mark a historical turning point that the green movement is finally advocating for staff of color to be paid equitably to their white counterparts.
Recent historic investments, including the Inflation Reduction Act, move us towards our climate goals but fail to address the major backbones of the problem: racial diversity & pay equity in the green movement. Communities closest to the impacts of climate change should also be leading with their solutions. POC can’t be expected to hold these positions if they’re underpaid compared to their white counterparts.
“It’s incumbent upon environmental organizations to recognize that we cannot achieve climate justice without social and economic justice,” said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of NRDC. “Closing the gap on pay equity is one thing we can do to ensure that people of color, especially women of color, are justly compensated and are in jobs and positions in which they can thrive. As an organization and a movement, we have a responsibility to truly embody the values we want to see in the world.”
Unfortunately, too many leading environmental non-profits continue to sit on the sidelines & slow play their response to the pledge. Their silence and inaction hinders progress towards a more equitable climate movement.
Top environmental organizations that have signed the pay equity pledge include Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Ocean Conservancy, Our Climate, Rainforest Action Network, LCV, GreenLatinos, EDF, Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, Conservation Nation, and The Nature Conservancy. You can view all pledgers here.
For more on the Pay Equity Pledge, please visit https://diversegreen.org/pay-equity-pledge/.
Green 2.0 is a 501(c)3 independent campaign working to increase racial and ethnic diversity among environmental organizations. Green 2.0 believes in a powerful, winning environmental movement grounded in equity and inclusion. Follow Green 2.0. on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.