About us

Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) is a national nonprofit organization founded in 2009 that advances racial, economic, and climate justice to build communities that are more equitable, economically just, and sustainable. Headquartered in Washington, DC, ECC implements replicable place-based strategies in community and worker powerbuilding, economic inclusion, and equitable implementation, in five regions (Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, Northeast, and DMV (D.C./Maryland/Virginia) and select cities throughout the US. Additionally, ECC’s national Civic Infrastructure and Strategic Initiatives provide a broad range of policy capacity, program leadership, coalition building, and technical assistance to community-based organizations, government, and more.

Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) centers and collaborates with frontline communities, especially communities of color, to ensure that they are at the forefront of decision making, that they benefit from the economic opportunities of the transition to clean energy, and to drive climate investments back to those communities.

The broad goals of the “emerald cities” were to have the greenest and most equitable cities possible that give particular attention to more efficient or restorative use of nature, particularly energy. ECC hoped to build off of the citizen mobilization that helped to catapult Barack Obama to the Presidency in 2008 to engage labor and community to join forces to increase demand for clean energy work. From the outset, ECC advocated for transparency and equal opportunity for labor markets, restoration for individuals of overburdened communities, and tools to implement clean energy projects where they are needed most.

In many ways, the vision of ECC was ahead of its time with its focus on not just climate mitigation but greater equity and democracy. Nevertheless, over the years, ECC has built a movement of change agents who’ve demonstrated that an equitable, high-road approach is the best path to a sustainable, just future.

Today, ECC is a well-respected national nonprofit organization working to advance a sustainable environment while creating sustainable, just, and inclusive economies with opportunities for all — our founding “high road” approach. ECC employs a place-based approach via five regional offices (Northeast, Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, and DMV (D.C./ Maryland/Virginia) that are supported by a national office of Civic Infrastructure and Strategic Initiatives, as well as ECC’s administrative headquarters in Washington, DC.

“In a world where we’re running out of climate much faster than we’re running out of fossil fuels, we need to get serious about climate and reduce waste.”