Eugene has a chance to chart a clean energy future, and make big corporations pay their share

Billion-dollar corporations are some of the most polluting institutions in the world. A recent study found that the world’s biggest companies have caused $28 trillion in climate damages — economic impacts directly associated with temperature increases caused by corporate pollution.

And as the climate crisis worsens, large companies are profiting massively off of global energy instability, and leaving ordinary workers behind.

It is past time for billion-dollar corporations to pay their fair share. That’s why the Sierra Club is supporting the Eugene Clean Energy Fund initiative, and gathering signatures to put it on the ballot this November.

This initiative aims to establish a 2% fee on the gross profits of billion-dollar corporations operating in the city — like Amazon, Walmart and Chase Bank — in order to generate revenue dedicated to reducing emissions, bolstering resiliency and creating good-paying local green jobs. 

The policy is closely based on the successful Portland Clean Energy Fund initiative, which was passed by Portland voters overwhelmingly in 2018 and has since generated over $1.7 billion that has been invested into local climate and sustainability initiatives in the city.

The Eugene initiative is projected to generate between $15 million to $30 million a year, which could fund everything from cost-saving energy efficiency upgrades for low income households, to providing local businesses with grants to adopt zero-emission technologies, to active transportation and electric vehicle infrastructure, to building out community-owned solar generation to power our electrical grid and reduce the cost of electricity, and so much more.

As the climate crisis accelerates, it is working-class people who are most likely to experience its impacts, and who can least afford to adapt. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have seen this firsthand.

In 2021, a climate-driven heat dome descended on the region, and was responsible for more than 500 deaths across the broader Northwest, primarily affecting people who could not afford air conditioning in their homes. Climate-driven wildfires have ripped across Oregon in recent years. This summer, we’re bracing for another long wildfire season, with record-breaking temperatures and the lowest snowpack on record.

In Portland, clean energy funds have gone not only to projects that help to reduce emissions in the future, but also to initiatives that directly respond to climate’s affects on people’s lives today. In response to the 2021 heat dome, it funded the life-saving Cooling Portland Program, which has provided over 20,000 high-efficiency air conditioning units for free to Portland residents since its launch in 2022.

The program has also invested in a wide variety of impactful projects, including providing $25 million in funding to programs specifically targeting commercial building upgrades for local businesses, investing $78 million into retrofitting existing affordable housing with high-efficiency, zero-emission appliances, and $30 million into active transportation projects to make walking and biking safer in Portland.

The Portland Clean Energy Fund is reducing citywide emissions by 2% to 3% every year and has provided more than 22,000 households with energy efficiency upgrades, according to data from the city.

Here in Eugene, a clean energy fund can get us back on track to meet our climate goals, while providing direct benefits to households across the city. It will help us build a future for our city that everyone can be proud of.

The investments generated by the initiative will be transformational. Beyond helping us reduce emissions, the Eugene Clean Energy Fund revenue will go to protecting our city as the climate crisis worsens, driving down power bills, expanding access to air conditioning, cooling centers and resiliency hubs, and building out infrastructure to protect our power grid in the face of climate-driven storms and natural disasters.

A growing coalition of labor unions, environmental and climate justice organizations, and local businesses are supporting the initiative, and we are confident we can win. We are proud to have a broad base of support with key endorsements from the Lane, Coos, Curry, and Douglas Building Trades Council; Oregon State Sen. James Manning Jr.; former Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy; Eugene City Councilor Matt Keating; EWEB Commissioner Tim Morris and many others.

As the costs of inaction on climate mount in our state, with lives lost and billions in economic damages, the massive corporations that have contributed to the crisis continue to reap unfathomable profits. This initiative was designed by our local communities to make these big polluting corporations pay their fair share.

We have an opportunity to make history this November, and put in place a policy that will drive billions of dollars in investments into building a more equitable, more sustainable and more resilient future for Eugene. Will you join us?

Currently the initiative is gathering signatures to qualify for the November ballot. They must be submitted by July 27. Look for signature gatherers at the farmers and Whiteaker markets and other public events to add your name.

Learn more and get involved by visiting eugenecleanenergyfund.org.