I hope your summer is going well, despite the massive challenges the COVID-19 pandemic is causing to our lives. It’s also been an intense but important time to grapple with violence and discrimination towards Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) that show up in so many aspects of our society,  including transportation policy

This American Prospect article from a few months ago covered a number of important problems and solutions related to inequity in the electric vehicle arena. More broadly, driving while Black, walking while Black, and riding or driving a bus while Black can be issues of life or death for millions of people. Transportation justice is racial justice and there is so much work we all have to do to make transportation truly clean, safe, and equitable.

This work includes a recognition of past and present harm done by our own organization. The Sierra Club is a 128-year-old organization with a complex, problematic history, some of which has caused significant harm to Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color. We are also a vibrant and multi-dimensional community of humans who believe in repairing harm we have caused; examining, learning, and reckoning with our past so we can transform ourselves from the inside out; and, rebuilding the future Sierra Club we are proud to be part of. 

"Pulling Down Our Monuments" is the first in a series of several blogs that will examine our racist history and detail how we plan to rebuild the Sierra Club on a basis of racial and social justice and to try to repair the harm we’ve caused. Please help hold us accountable to this mission-critical work.
 
There's also progress to report in clean transportation around the country. The California Air Resources Board recently voted unanimously to adopt the world’s first zero-emission truck rule. This is a major win for climate as well as for California communities suffering the health impacts from diesel pollution. Sierra Club and allies from environmental, environmental justice, health, and labor groups pushed hard for this policy, which is a model for other states.

Relatedly, a bipartisan group of 15 governors plus the mayor of D.C. signed an agreement last week to collaborate on electrifying trucks and buses. It calls for 30 percent of new truck and bus sales to be zero-emission by 2030, and 100 percent zero-emission by 2050.
 
Adding to the good news is New York, whose Department of Public Service recently unveiled a program to allocate $700 million in incentives for utilities to invest in electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Sierra Club has been working with allies and regulators on this issue for years, and we applaud the decision!
 
Last year, the Sierra Club began a campaign urging ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft to make a commitment to support electrification on their platforms (plus other asks, including complementing and not competing with public transit). Last month, Lyft announced its commitment to 100% electric vehicle rides on its platform by 2030. This is huge! See our statement about Lyft's commitment as well as Lyft’s plan to achieve it, and Campaign Representative Rebekah Whilden's interview on local Charlotte, NC news talking about what's next. We’ve been talking with labor unions, drivers, and policy experts from across the country about how to make this transition and to ensure that the onus of paying for the shift to 100% EVs doesn’t fall on Lyft’s drivers.
 
Finally, a coalition of 65 businesses, nonprofit organizations, local agencies, unions, and the state’s electric utility is a driving force behind Governor Steve Sisolak’s recent announcement that Nevada would move to join the growing coalition of states adopting low-emission and zero-emission clean vehicle standards. See the statement from Sierra Club’s Nevada Chapter and some great press coverage, including in Reuters and this one in Utility Dive framed in the context of the lawsuit by Sierra Club and others fighting the Trump Administration’s clean vehicle rollbacks. 
 
Thanks for all you do for clean transportation,
Gina

Gina Coplon-Newfield
Director, Clean Transportation for All Campaign
Sierra Club

Follow me on Twitter @GinaDrivingEV 
Follow Sierra Club on Facebook or Twitter (@SierraClub)