At Seneca Solar, we go beyond what’s standard in renewable energy projects to achieve Earth-healing benefits — we call these “+1s.” One of the ways to incorporate +1s is to site solar projects on farms, in a practice known as agrivoltaics.
Seneca Environmental was a sponsor for the groundbreaking first annual Tribal Energy Equity Summit hosted by the Indigenous Energy Initiative.
Native solar companies are very focused on energy equity. “The term ‘equity’ gets used a lot in the cutting-edge conversations around climate solutions and usually means ‘fairness.’ What we are doing is trying to develop equity for native communities in the business sense, meaning ‘ownership’ of renewable energy assets,” says says Matt Renner, VP of Seneca Solar, owned by the Seneca tribe in New York.
“A tribally owned company like Seneca Solar flips the old, extractive model of traditional energy development to focus on equitable outcomes for Native people. Tribally owned solar development companies are working toward an equitable renewable energy transition, rather than one that re-creates the systems that have led to the current climate crisis and economic inequality,” says Renner.
By Jeffrey Ellis
CEO, Seneca Holdings
Businesses looking to amplify their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals should consider the added impact that comes from working with a tribally-owned business. The mission of a business owned by a Native Nation is to generate income that will improve the lives of its people. Every other for-profit business seeks to maximize value for its owners. If a tribally owned business can serve your business just as well as another (or better!), your company will simply “do more good” by working with one.