Carnot Prize recipient Jacqueline Patterson explores how the clean energy transition can drive meaningful progress toward energy and climate justice.

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In 2009 Jacqueline Patterson became the founding director of the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program. It was a role that Patterson, who’s this year’s recipient of the Kleinman Center’s Carnot Prize, had expected to be short lived: she’d stay on just long enough to get the program underway.

By the time she did move on 12 years later, she had made significant progress in raising understanding of the connection between environmental damage and the lived experience in some of this country’s most impoverished and vulnerable communities. As an advocate for climate justice, she has worked to address the fact that environmental damage increases the economic and health burdens on disadvantaged communities, and makes it more challenging to break the cycle of poverty and marginalization.

Today Patterson serves as the executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, where her work empowers communities of color on the front lines of climate change, ensuring they have the resources, tools, and leadership to amplify their voices in policymaking. Her efforts focus on making the clean energy transition a genuine opportunity for justice and equity.

Jacqueline Patterson is executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project and the 2024 recipient of the Kleinman Center’s Carnot Prize for distinguished contributions in the area of energy policy.

Related Content

Beyond Labor: The Expanding Scope of the Just Energy Transitionhttps://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/podcast/beyond-labor-the-expanding-scope-of-the-just-energy-transition/

Should ‘Energy Hogs’ Shoulder More of the Utility Cost Burden? Should ‘Energy Hogs’ Shoulder More of the Utility Cost Burden? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/should-energy-hogs-shoulder-more-of-the-utility-cost-burden/



Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu

Carnot Prize recipient Jacqueline Patterson explores how the clean energy transition can drive meaningful progress toward energy and climate justice.
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In 2009 Jacqueline Patterson became the founding director of the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program. It was a role that Patterson, who’s this year’s recipient of the Kleinman Center’s Carnot Prize, had expected to be short lived: she’d stay on just long enough to get the program underway.
By the time she did move on 12 years later, she had made significant progress in raising understanding of the connection between environmental damage and the lived experience in some of this country’s most impoverished and vulnerable communities. As an advocate for climate justice, she has worked to address the fact that environmental damage increases the economic and health burdens on disadvantaged communities, and makes it more challenging to break the cycle of poverty and marginalization.
Today Patterson serves as the executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, where her work empowers communities of color on the front lines of climate change, ensuring they have the resources, tools, and leadership to amplify their voices in policymaking. Her efforts focus on making the clean energy transition a genuine opportunity for justice and equity.
Jacqueline Patterson is executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project and the 2024 recipient of the Kleinman Center’s Carnot Prize for distinguished contributions in the area of energy policy.
Related Content
<a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/podcast/beyond-labor-the-expanding-scope-of-the-just-energy-transition/">Beyond Labor: The Expanding Scope of the Just Energy Transition</a> <a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/podcast/beyond-labor-the-expanding-scope-of-the-just-energy-transition/">https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/podcast/beyond-labor-the-expanding-scope-of-the-just-energy-transition/</a>
<a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/should-energy-hogs-shoulder-more-of-the-utility-cost-burden/">Should ‘Energy Hogs’ Shoulder More of the Utility Cost Burden? Should ‘Energy Hogs’ Shoulder More of the Utility Cost Burden? </a> <a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/should-energy-hogs-shoulder-more-of-the-utility-cost-burden/">https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/should-energy-hogs-shoulder-more-of-the-utility-cost-burden/</a>
 
Energy Policy Now is produced by <a href="http://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/">The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy</a> at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit <a href="http://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/">kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu</a>

Energy Policy Now offers clear talk on the policy issues that define our relationship to energy and its impact on society and the environment. The series is produced by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and hosted by energy journalist Andy Stone. Join Andy in conversation with leaders from industry, government, and academia as they shed light on today's pressing energy policy debates.

Energy Policy Now

Energy Policy Now offers clear talk on the policy issues that define our relationship to energy and its impact on society and the environment. The series is produced by <a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/podcast/">the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy</a> at the University of Pennsylvania and hosted by energy journalist Andy Stone. Join Andy in conversation with leaders from industry, government, and academia as they shed light on today's pressing energy policy debates.

2024 Carnot Prize winner Jacqui Patterson explores how the clean energy transition can drive meaningful progress toward energy and climate justice.

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