Short-sighted approaches to producing energy and other products can have harmful impacts that limit economic growth, pollute the environment, and disproportionately harm communities of color, low-income people, and ordinary working families. Redefining Progress develops creative, market-based policies that strengthen the economy while protecting the environment and promoting social equity.

Our economists and policy experts use economic modeling and policy analysis to harness the efficiency and productivity of the economy for sustainability. These approaches discourage pollution and other economic side-effects while simultaneously helping to develop and support new markets and engines of growth for the 21st century.

Through our Sustainable Economics Program, we publish scholarly papers, testify before government bodies, and provide technical assistance to state, national, and international organizations working to achieve a sustainable economy.

Sustainable Economics focuses on three principle areas:

Environment and Economy

Research in this area tackles the issue of how to improve our economy and our environment at the same time, with a particular focus on creating employment and preserving well-paying jobs.

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Environment and Equity

This program focuses on measuring the impacts of environmental problems and policies on working families, low-income people, and communities of color, and on devising environmental strategies that benefit these groups.

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Economic Localization

Redefining Progress partners with other San Francisco Bay-area organizations in an initiative to localize the economy by promoting small, locally owned, environmentally sustainable businesses in the energy, food, manufacturing, and financial sectors.

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