Environmental Defense Fund
At a Glance
Industry
Nonprofit
Project Types
Climate Justice/Energy Equity, Engagement and Behavior Change, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy
Year
2023
Location
Washington, DC
Summary
Raiven Greenberg examined how Environmental Defense Fund’s corporate partners conceptualize and implement net zero strategy and environmental and climate justice (ECJ) priorities within their organizations.
Goals
The goals of this project were fourfold:
- Understand the current state of net zero and ECJ at EDF’s partner companies
- Determine the challenges and opportunities companies see for better integrating ECJ into net zero work
- Compare these findings to EDF’s previous work that studied ECJ stakeholder perceptions of net zero and ECJ
- Propose recommendations for EDF’s work with corporate partners, based on these findings
Solutions
Raiven focused her efforts on qualitative research regarding net zero and ECJ. She interviewed 15 of EDF’s corporate partners to learn about their current perceptions and implementation strategies, as well as the challenges and opportunities they saw for better integrating ECJ into net zero. She created narrative analyses from each interview, highlighted the key themes raised by each company, and mapped them in Excel matrices. She noted all larger thematic findings and their implications in an internal report for EDF, as well as a shorter summary for businesses.
Raiven proposed a set of six recommendations for EDF to expand their work on ECJ and inform their role in engaging with corporate partners on this important topic.
Potential Impact
If EDF intentionally and actively works to understand the results of this study and implements some of the recommendations provided, the organization will become more equipped to authentically engage with corporate partners on integrating ECJ into their net zero strategies. EDF’s commitment to these issues will, in turn, provide better outcomes for both companies and communities. By actively working on ECJ integration in corporate net zero strategy, EDF can be a catalyst for creating positive change, with rippling effects for the economy, people, and the planet.