News Release

The Just Transition Fund Coalition celebrates yesterday’s announcement of $10 million in new, dedicated funding to begin implementation of the City of Minneapolis’ ambitious 10-year Climate Equity Plan in 2024. On August 15, Mayor Jacob Frey gave the 2024 budget address, which included a first-time Climate Legacy Initiative. While the budget details are not yet available, the coalition — made up of local labor, immigrant rights, climate, and environmental justice organizations — is cautiously optimistic that new staff and programs to promote racial equity in the transition to clean energy will get funding next year.

“Seeing the City listen to constituents and invest fully in the first year of a decade of transition is huge,” said Ulla Nilsen, MN350 Senior Organizer on the MN350 Green New Deal Team. “We look forward as a coalition to reviewing the budget details, and to continue to partner on ramping up the funding necessary to implement the new Climate Equity Plan. In the meantime, we celebrate the fact that the Mayor and City Council heard the community and announced a budget to support this historic step forward for climate and equity.”

In mid-July, after receiving more than 800 public comments on the draft plan, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to pass a strong 10-year Climate Equity Plan that centers dignified, good-paying jobs, green workforce development in communities of color, support for universal weatherization and electrification upgrades, infrastructure improvements, future solution planning, and the staffing needed to oversee, direct, implement, and conduct community engagement for these programs.

Residents from all thirteen wards in the city, supported by the coalition, have been gathering since 2021 to strategize around raising the funds necessary to not only build out climate solutions but ensure that the benefits of the clean energy transition are available to every Minneapolis resident — no exceptions. Dubbed the People’s Climate & Equity campaign, coalition members and residents have come together to work with city council members and the mayor on a climate plan grounded in an equitable transition to a clean energy economy. Today, the coalition celebrates the city’s commitment of funding this transition.

Visit MN350’s website for more information about the grassroots People’s Climate & Equity Plan.

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ABOUT

Known as the Just Transition Fund, a multigenerational, multiracial coalition of local labor, immigrant rights, and environmental justice organizations have come together to work with city council members and the mayor on a climate plan grounded in an equitable transition to a clean energy economy.

Coalition members include:

• Awood Center

• Black Visions

• Community Power

• Cooperative Energy Futures

• Environmental Justice Advocates of MN

• Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate

• ISAIAH

• Minneapolis Federation of Teachers

• MN350

• MN Interfaith Power and Light

• MN Renewable Now

• Minnesota Environmental Justice Table

• SEIU Local 26

• Sierra Club North Star Chapter

• Take Action MN

• Unidos MN