The Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) is a left-of-center nonprofit organization that advocates for eliminating the concentration of wealth and transitioning from funding the oil industry and military to form a “regenerative economy.” ¹ The organization started as a local community organizing group for Asian-Americans and immigrants but expanded its focus to advocate for a complete economic transformation to left-of-center economic principles, or what it calls a “just transition.”  ²

History

The concept of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network was formed in 1991 at the first National People of Color Environmental Justice Leadership Summit. At the summit, racial minority activists discussed efforts to organize communities to oppose industrial projects in low-income racial-minority neighborhoods. After the summit, the Bay Area delegation to the summit formed APEN. Its membership largely consisted of Laotian immigrants and refugees who settled in Richmond, California, where there were over 350 industrial “toxic facilities.” APEN initially focused on food distribution and educating its members on how to consume local food without exposure to industrial toxins. ³

Initially, APEN formed Asian Youth Advocates, an activist training program for young Laotian women. ³

In 1999, a Chevron factory caught fire. Many of the Laotian workers did not understand the warnings and were harmed. The incident prompted APEN to launch the Multilingual Warning System nationwide. A decade later, APEN protests influenced plans to expand the Chevron factory. ³

In the early 2000s, APEN’s membership spread to Oakland Chinatown where APEN helped Chinese tenants fight against landlords. ³

Positions

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) advocates for a “just transition,” or the transformation of the economy “away from an extractive economy based on profit and pollution” and toward an economy based on left-of-center economic principles. APEN claims that the “extractive economy” is built on fossil fuels, privatized profits and social costs, and the military-industrial complex. ²

APEN opposes cap-and-trade, a policy that caps total emissions and allots tradeable permits to emit under the cap, which it views as too permissive of industrial pollution. ⁴

Oil Refining Tax

In 2024, Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez pushed a ballot measure that enacted an oil-refining tax targeted at Chevron’s facility. In response, Chevron threatened a lawsuit but eventually settled for canceling the tax in exchange for Chevron paying the city $550 million in compensation for past pollution. The ballot measure was co-authored by the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN). ⁵

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

In December 2021, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network was one of more than 100 groups that co-signed an open letter opposing the nuclear power production tax credits offered in HR 5376, the House of Representatives draft of the Build Back Better Act. The groups identified nuclear power as one of several “unproven and unnecessary technologies” and “harmful energy sources” that “would extend demand for fossil fuels.” ⁶

Leadership

Miya Yoshitani was the associate director of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network from 2008 to 2013, and then the executive director of the organization from 2013 to May 2023. In 1991, Yoshitani was a participant in the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, and was on the drafting committee of the original Principles of Environmental Justice. Yoshitani works as the co-executive director of the Movement Innovation Collaborative, a left-wing community organizing group seeded by the California Endowment. ^{7 8 9}

After her resignation, Yoshitani was replaced by two co-directors: Vivian Yi Huang and Christine Cordero. Huang has worked at APEN since 2010 as a deputy director and campaign and organizing director; she has also worked as a lecturer for public health policy at the San Francisco State Department of Health Education and Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality. Cordero previously worked for the Center for Story-Based Strategy and the California Wellness Foundation. As of June 2025, Cordero’s LinkedIn stated that she had left APEN, though APEN’s website still listed her as co-director. ^{10 11 12 13}

Funding

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network has received funding from Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Health Services, the Bay Area Council, the Bezos Earth Fund, the California Endowment, the California Environmental Justice Alliance, the California Wellness Foundation, the Chorus Foundation, the Climate Justice Alliance, Climate Ride, the Climateworks Foundation, the Corwell Foundation, the East Bay Community Foundation, the Edwin M. Lee Community Fund, the Emergent Fund, the Energy Foundation, the Frank and Karen Geefay Foundation, and the Greenlining Institute. ¹⁴

In March 2022, APEN received funding from Mosaic (also known as Mosaic Momentum), a grantmaking fund that supports environmental nonprofits. ¹⁵

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6. Asian Pacific Environmental Network, et al . . . Letter to U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee for December 14, 2021. “Dear Senate Majority Leader Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chair Wyden, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, and Committee Members . . .” Accessed June 25, 2024. https://unitedfrontlinetable.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/No-False-Solutions-in-BBBA-Letter-to-Senate-20211214-FINAL.pdf 
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9. “Our Story.” Movement Innovation Collaborative. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://movementinnovation.org/#about-us.
10. “Introducing Vivian Yi Huang, Our New Co-Director.” APEN. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://apen4ej.org/vivian-message/.
11. “Vivian Yi Huang.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivian-yi-huang/.
12. “Christine Cordero.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-cordero-67ba4932/.
13. “Meet APEN’s Staff and Board.” APEN. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://apen4ej.org/who-is-apen/#StaffBoard.
14. “Funders.” APEN. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://apen4ej.org/who-is-apen/#StaffBoard.
15. Kavate, Michela. “What Happens When Environmental Movement Leaders Make Funding Decisions?” Inside Philanthropy. March 8, 2022. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-3-8-what-happens-when-environmental-movement-leaders-make-the-funding-decisions.