Environmental Justice Factsheet

Environmental Justice (EJ) is defined as the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in environmental decision-making to ensure full protection from disproportionate environmental and health impacts, and equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and resilient environment.1 Inspired by the Civil Rights movement, EJ became widespread in the 1980s at the intersection of environmentalism and social justice.2 Environmental injustice is experienced through heightened exposure to pollution and corresponding health risks, limited access to adequate environmental services, and loss of land and resource rights.3 EJ and sustainability are interdependent and are both necessary to create an equitable environment for all.4

Built Environment (See Factsheets Related to the Built Environment)

  • The changing demographics of urban areas, loose permitting requirements, and exclusionary zoning laws have funneled racial and ethnic minorities into areas of greater environmental degradation and reduced support.3 Residents of degraded areas do not or cannot move due to sense of place, and lack of financial resources and land ownership.3
  • Although people of color make up 42% of the overall population of the U.S., they are 52% of the population in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution, and 63% of the residents in counties with the worst air quality.5
  • Drinking water contaminated by PFAS is a widespread public health concern. Community water systems (CWS) with detectable PFAS served a 1.5-2 times higher proportion of  Hispanic/Latino residents compared to CWS without PFAS.6
  • In 2010, 45% of the population in the host area of toxic waste facilities was made up of people of color as compared to 28% elsewhere.7
  • The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) supports emergency planning and provides information about toxic releases.8 On average, people of color make up 56% of the population in neighborhoods with TRI facilities, compared to 30% elsewhere in 2000.10
  • Negative environmental factors can compound social and economic conditions and lead to higher levels of chronic health problems such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension for minorities and low-income communities.11 Minorities in the U.S. have an increased risk for infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 compared to non-Hispanic white persons.12
  • Availability of cheap land in disadvantaged urban centers has led to gentrification, an increase in property values that often13 leads to displacement, as well as social, economic, and cultural stress.3, 14
Toxic Release by State, 2022 (M lbs)9

Food (See U.S. Food System Factsheet)

  • In 2022, 12.8% of U.S. households experienced food insecurity. Food insecurity rates for Black and Hispanic households were consistently higher than the national average and higher in rural versus urban areas.16
  • Food prices are higher and quality is lower in high poverty areas.17 In 2022, the average U.S. household spent 13% of income on food; low-income families spent about 31%.18
  • Hispanic and Black children have higher obesity rates than White and Asian children.19
  • About 53.6M people (17.4% of U.S. population) have poor access to a supermarket due to limited transportation and uneven distribution of supermarkets.20
Prevalence of Food Insecurity in the U.S., 202216

Energy (See Factsheets Related to Energy)

  • The presence of power plants and fuel resource extraction operations place a significant environmental burden on neighboring communities. Minority and low-income communities are directly and disproportionately affected by these facilities and are rarely included in decision-making.21
  • The average income of residents living within three miles of a coal power plant in 2000 was 15% less than the national average.22
  • Households self-identified as Black, Hispanic, or multiracial experience energy insecurity at disproportionately higher rates than households self-identifying as White or Asian.23 
  • U.S. clean energy tax credits have been less accessible to low-income households due to affordability barriers.24, 25, 26 In 2023, taxpayers with incomes under $50k received 6% of residential clean energy credits and 9% of energy efficiency home improvement credits, while taxpayers with incomes over $200k received 27% and 23% respectively.27
Average Shares of US Households Experiencing Energy Insecurity by Race, July 2021 - May 202323

Hydropower and Dams

  • Dams threaten vulnerable populations such as indigeous people, through food insecurity, increased morbidity, and the loss of land and water access, jobs, and houses.28
  • Dam construction often displaces low income communities due to financial pressure from wealthier groups or investors.28

Energy Poverty

  • In 2022, 685M people globally lived without electricity, 80% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. 2.1B people still use polluting fuels for cooking, largely in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.29 
  • Energy poverty results from inequalities in income, energy prices, housing, and energy efficiency.30 Low-income households spend 3 times as much of their income on energy than non-low-income households, despite using less energy.31 Nearly 37M U.S. families suffer from energy poverty,31 making them vulnerable during periods of intense heat or cold.30

Materials (See Factsheets Related to Material Resources)

Mining

  • Roughly 3% of U.S. oil and NG reserves, 15% of coal reserves, and 37-55% of uranium reserves are on Indigenous land.3 
  • The U.S. imports more than 90% of the elements critical to advanced energy generation, transmission, and storage.32
  • Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) accounts for 15-20% of global mineral and metal production. ASM often has unsafe working conditions (e.g., child labor) and bad environmental practices (e.g., high mercury emissions).33

Electronic Waste

  • In 2022, 62M kg of e-waste were generated globally. China was the top e-waste generator overall, while Norway had the highest E-waste generation per capita.34
  • An estimated 6-29% of the 40M computers retired in the U.S. were exported in 2010.35 The U.S. exported 7% of its used electronics by value in 2011.36
  • Nearly 13M women and 18M children globally work in the informal labor sector to manage e-waste, potentially exposing them to toxic chemicals.37
  • Improper recycling and recovery procedures can lead to exposure to carcinogenic and toxic materials, which often occurs in developing nations where recycling regulations to limit worker exposure are lax or nonexistent.38 A review found increased DNA damage in those living in e-waste recycling towns, along with increases in still and premature births.39
Global E-Waste Generation (MT), 202234

Climate (See Factsheets Related to Climate Change)

  • Though wealthy, developed nations like the U.S. continue to emit larger amounts of GHG per capita, developing nations experience the worst effects of climate change4 due to their limited resources and ability to adapt.40
Climate Change Emissions and Vulnerability41-46
  • People living in low-income communities, or closer to the coast and small island nations, are more vulnerable to climate change threats, such as flooding, severe storms, sea level rise, and storm surges.40
  • Indigenous populations that rely on subsistence farming practices for food have limited options for adapting to climate change threats.40
  • Areas with poor healthcare infrastructure will be the least able to cope with catastrophic effects of climate change such as heat waves, droughts, severe storms, and outbreaks of waterborne diseases.47
Determinants of Climate Vulnerability40
Image
Determinants of Climate Vulnerability

Solutions 

  • The U.S. Justice40 Initiative set a national goal in 2021 that disadvantaged communities will receive 40% of the benefits provided by federal investments into areas like climate change and clean energy.48
  • The Inflation Reduction Act provides resources for disadvantaged and minority communities to reduce pollution, improve clean transit, make clean energy more affordable and accessible, and strengthen resilience to climate change.49
  • Engage in and support bottom-up models of research that are responsive to the environmental concerns of communities. Advocate for the inclusion of local knowledge in research in addition to observations obtained from scientific methods.21
  • EJ Data and Grant information can be found here:
  • U.S. EJ indicators: EJScreen
  • U.S. EJ Grants: EPA EJ Grants
  • Data for global EJ issues: EJAtlas
Cite As

Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan. 2024. "Environmental Justice Factsheet." Pub. No. CSS17-16.

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (2024) Learn About Environmental Justice. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/learn-about-environmental-justice
  2. U.S. Department Of Energy (DOE) Environmental Justice. https://energy.gov/lm/services/environmental-justice/environmental-justice-history
  3. Taylor, D.E. (2014) "Toxic Communities." New York University Press. Book.
  4. Salkin, P., et al. (2012) "Sustainability as a Means of Improving Environmental Justice." Journal of Sustainability and Environmental Law, 19(1):3-34. http://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1667&context=scholarlyworks
  5. American Lung Association (2024) The “State of the Air” 2024 report. https://www.lung.org/research/sota/key-findings/people-at-risk
  6. Liddie, et al (2023) Sociodemographic factors are associated with the abundance of PFAS sources and detection in US community water systems. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.2c07255
  7. Mascarenhas, M., Grattet, R., & Mege, K. (2021). Toxic waste and race in twenty-first century America: Neighborhood poverty and racial composition in the siting of hazardous waste facilities. https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/environment-and-society/12/1/ares120107.xml?utm_source=researcher_app&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RESR_MRKT_Researcher_inbound
  8. U.S. EPA (2021) Learn about the Toxics Release Inventory. https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/learn-about-toxics-release-inventory
  9. U.S. EPA (2024) 2022 Toxics Release Inventory National Analysis. https://www.epa.gov/trinationalanalysis/where-you-live
  10. Bullard, R., et al. (2008) Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: Why Race Still Matters After All of These Years. Environmental Law (38)2: 371-411. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43267204?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
  11. U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2013) CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2013. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/su6203.pdf
  12. U.S. CDC (2021) "Trends in Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Hospitalizations, by Region — United States, March–December 2020." https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7015e2.htm#F1_down
  13. U.S. EPA (2017) Equitable Development and Environmental Justice. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/equitable-development-and-environmental-justice
  14. U.S. EPA (2017) Equitable Development and Environmental Justice. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/equitable-development-and-environmental-justice
  15. Wolch, J., et al. (2014) "Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice." Landscape and Urban Planning, 125:234-244. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204614000310
  16. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2023) Household Food Security in the United States in 2022. https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=104655
  17. Walker, R., et al. (2009) "Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States." Health & Place. 16(5):876-884. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829210000584?via%3Dihub
  18. USDA (2024) Ag and Food Statistics Charting the Essentials, February 2024. https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=108460
  19. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2021) Overweight & Obesity Statistics. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity
  20. USDA (2021) Food Access Research Atlas —Documentation. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation/
  21. Ottinger, G. (2013) "The Winds of Change: Environmental Justice in Energy Transitions." Science as Culture, 22(2):222-229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2013.786996
  22. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2012) "Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People.". https://naacp.org/resources/coal-blooded-putting-profits-people
  23. U.S. Census Bureau, DOE(2023) Household Pulse Survey. https://www.energy.gov/justice/articles/households-color-continue-experience-energy-insecurity-disproportionately-higher
  24. Borenstein, S., & Davis, L. W. (2016). The distributional effects of US clean energy tax credits. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/685597
  25. Xu, X., & Chen, C. F. (2019). Energy efficiency and energy justice for US low-income households, An analysis of multifaceted challenges and potential. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421519300205#s0060
  26. Brown, et al (2020) High energy burden and low-income energy affordability: conclusions from a literature review. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2516-1083/abb954/meta
  27. U.S. DOT & IRS (2024) Clean energy tax credit statistics. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/department-of-treasury-and-irs-release-inflation-reduction-act-clean-energy-statistics
  28. VanCleef, A. (2016) "Hydropower Development and Involuntary Displacement: Toward a Global Solution." Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 23(1):349-376. https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1615&context=ijgls
  29. IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank, WHO (2024) Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2024/06/press-release-energy-progress-report-2024/
  30. Reames, T. (2013) "Targeting Energy Justice." Energy Policy, 97:549-558. http://css.umich.edu/publication/targeting-energy-justice-exploring-spatial-racialethnic-and-socioeconomic-disparities
  31. Bednar, D. and Reames, T. (2020) Recognition of and response to energy poverty in the United States. Nature Energy. 5:432-439. http://css.umich.edu/publication/recognition-and-response-energy-poverty-united-states
  32. American Physical Society Panel on Public Affairs and Materials Research Society (2011) Energy Critical Elements: Securing Materials for Emerging Technologies. https://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/upload/elementsreport.pdf
  33. Maier, R., et al. (2014) "Socially responsible mining." Reviews of Environmental Health, 29(1-2):83-89. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24552962
  34. United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) (2024) The Global E-Waste Monitor 2024. https://ewastemonitor.info/the-global-e-waste-monitor-2024/
  35. Kahhat, R. and E. Williams (2012) "Materials flow analysis of e-waste: Domestic flows and exports of used computers from the United States" Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 67:67-74. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344912001383?via%3Dihub
  36. U.S. International Trade Commission (2013) Used Electronic Products An Examination of U.S. Exports. https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf
  37. WHO (2021) Soaring e-waste affects the health of millions of children, WHO warns. https://www.who.int/news/item/15-06-2021-soaring-e-waste-affects-the-health-of-millions-of-children-who-warns
  38. U.S. EPA (2012) Rare Earth Elements: A Review of Production, Processing, Recycling, and Associated Environmental Issues. http://reviewboard.ca/upload/project_document/EA1011-001_US_EPA_-_Rare_Earth_Elements_-_Associated_Environmental_Issues.PDF
  39. Grant, K., et al. (2013). “Health consequences of exposure to e-waste: a systematic review.” The Lancet Global Health, 1(6). https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(13)70101-3/fulltext
  40. U.S. EPA (2024) Understanding the Connections Between Climate Change and Human Health. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/understanding-connections-between-climate-change-and-human-health
  41. Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft (2024) world risk report dataset 2024. https://weltrisikobericht.de/en/
  42. World Development Index (2024) Population Total. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?skipRedirection=true&view=map
  43. World Bank (2024) World Development Index_GDP per capita. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?skipRedirection=true 
  44. Our World in Data (2024) Cumulative CO2 Emissions. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-co-emissions
  45. Andrew, R. M., & Peters, G. P. (2024). The Global Carbon Project's fossil CO2 emissions dataset (2023v43) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10562476
  46. BCG (2023) A Blueprint for the Energy Transition. https://www.bcg.com/industries/energy/energy-transition/blueprint
  47. World Health Organization (2016) Climate Change and Health. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs266/en/ 
  48. The White House (2022) Justice40 A Whole of Government Initiative. https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/
  49. The White House (2022) Fact Sheet Inflation Reduction Act Advances Environmental Justice. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/17/fact-sheet-inflation-reduction-act-advances-environmental-justice/

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