The Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement met Thursday night to discuss new sustainability practices on a city and state level.

The Des Moines-based statewide organization, which is committed to numerous causes, including fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline, leads a call for 100 percent clean energy in Iowa City and across the state.

The event coordinator, Matt Ohloff, hoped the meeting would create a space for people to discuss what they wanted from sustainability initiatives and how to best transition to clean energy.

“Climate change is an urgent issue,” he said. “We need everybody to be involved …to help support the push to clean energy.”

Community members discussed what they wanted to see from the city government and their utility providers. Suggestions included a more urgent approach to energy transition and a commitment to sustainable development. There was also a desire to make utility providers work for the public good.

Ben Ishibashi, a national climate-justice organizer for People’s Action, discussed how sustainability was less accessible for communities of color and those living in poverty.

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The working class and those living in poverty are the most affected by pollution, he said, but they don’t have the expendable income to pay for upgrades to sustainable energy.

He offered a possible solution called “pay as you save” financing. In this option, utility providers pay upfront for the upgrades to sustainable energy, and customers pay a small tariff on their bill until the equipment is paid off.

Ishibashi said the option is more feasible for low-income communities because “it’s not a loan that’s attached to a person, so especially if you’re a renter and you move away after having this upgrade done … you don’t have to pay back the utility for an upgrade you no longer benefit from.”

It also benefits customers because the fee added to the bills is below the amount being saved.

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The citizens’ group works independently from the Iowa City government, but it shares similar goals.

“Iowa City is fortunate that our energy provider is MidAmerican,” Iowa City sustainability coordinator Brenda Nations said. “Its goal is to be 100 percent clean in a year and a half.”

Instead of focusing the city’s energy in making utilities greener, Nations indicated that its focus was on other issues, such as transportation and methane gas. However, those at the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with MidAmerican because they felt the move toward sustainable energy was purely for profit and didn’t benefit them as customers.

As for student involvement, the consensus of the group was to get involved in green student organizations.