Issue Briefing:

Facilitating a Just Transition

By investing in underserved and energy-burdened communities, policymakers can help ensure a just and equitable clean energy transition.

Definitions

➡️ Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of demographic identity, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental policy. (Read more)

➡️ Climate justice acknowledges climate change can have differing social, economic, public health, and other adverse impacts on underprivileged populations, so adaptation and mitigation strategies should seek to correct that. (Read more)

Why advocate for environmental justice laws?

🌎 DECARBONIZATION:

Helps accelerate decarbonization by establishing a new federal energy transition assistance fund to support communities that are transitioning away from a fossil fuel economy. This will remove some of the economic and political barriers associated with rapid clean energy buildout at the local level, and that helps us hit our emissions targets faster.

⚖️ EQUITY:

Incorporates environmental justice in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that burdened communities can sue for discrimination.

Strengthens environmental review requirements for new fossil fuel permits while setting up systems to generate early input from local communities.

Prioritizes equitable access to outdoor spaces and funds new health equity grant programs to get toxic chemicals out of cosmetics for people of color.

Authorizes training and education grants for communities to address environmental justice concerns, since those communities are historically underfunded.

Directs federal agencies to collect data that can help the environmental justice cause, like health disparities and environmental hazards, and use that research to inform regulatory policy. The EPA must make its data on identified environmental sacrifice zones available to the public.

Plus, the bill was crafted collaboratively with frontline communities to help ensure that those most impacted had a voice in the process.

The Case for Environmental Justice Laws

Fossil fuel extraction sites and power plants are more likely to be in proximity to low-income and communities of color. These polluting facilities create hazardous air and water pollution without having included local communities in any stage of the decision-making process.

  • One report identified that 70% of Superfund sites, the most polluted sites in the country, are within one mile of public housing.

  • At least half of U.S. residents within three miles of a Superfund site are people of color.

  • In 2000, the average income of residents within three miles of a coal plant was more than $3,000 below the national average.

Disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards leads to compounding negative health outcomes. Environmental justice (EJ) communities are more likely to suffer from asthma, hypertension, and other chronic diseases, which compound over time and are inherited by the next generation.

The built environment has left EJ communities stranded. A combination of redlining, exclusionary zoning, isolating highway and railroad placement, and the absence of financial resources has left underserved communities isolated from green spaces and access to healthy food. At the same time, they’re closer to industrial sites and highways. For members of EJ communities, the ability to relocate is often out of reach.

EJ communities are often the same ones experiencing energy burdens. Low-income households consume less energy than middle- and high-income households, but have a disproportionately high energy burden, meaning they spend a greater proportion of their income on energy expenses relative to other households. Nearly 37 million Americans can’t afford their energy needs, leaving them vulnerable to extreme temperatures.

Environmental justice concerns correlate with climate justice concerns. Often, the same communities suffering from environmental injustices will be disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.

  • Communities (and nations) that have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions will suffer disproportionate impacts.

  • Many EJ communities are especially vulnerable to climate impacts due to inadequate infrastructure, housing, and healthcare.

  • The EPA found that people of color are more likely than white Americans to live somewhere with an increased rate of climate change-related mortality, including 48% higher likelihood for Indigenous Americans, 43% for Latinos, 40% for Black Americans, and 23% for Asian Americans.