New updates include climate risks, transportation inequities, historic redlines, chronic pollution, and communities facing additional barriers.
Today, the White House launched Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) version 1.0. Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST)It is an important step in implementing President Biden’s Justice40 initiative and ensuring that the benefits of federal programs are reaching communities burdened by pollution and historically underinvestment.
President Biden has delivered a historic economic and climate agenda focused on workers and communities. Through the administration’s Justice 40 Initiative, it is providing 40 percent of federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, clean water, and other investments to marginalized, underserved, and pollution-burdened communities in need. CEJST helps federal agencies better identify communities that could benefit from the Just40 Initiative.
“Every community, regardless of zip code, deserves clean water to drink, healthy air to breathe and protection from extreme weather conditions.” said CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory. “The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool identifies communities that face historical injustices and communities that bear the brunt of pollution to ensure they are the first to see the benefits of climate action. This is a big step toward achieving President Biden’s environmental justice goals and creating a better, cleaner future.
CEJST version 1.0 is a critical component of the President’s landmark environmental justice mandate. Through Executive Order 14008, federal agencies are implementing the Justice40 Initiative and can now use CEJST to identify disadvantaged communities. Justice40 covers hundreds of federal programs that represent billions of dollars in annual investment, including programs funded or created in the president’s bipartisan infrastructure legislation and inflation reduction legislation. Here is a list of federal programs covered by the Just40 Initiative.
Earlier this year, CEQ launched a beta version of the screening tool and solicited feedback from federal agencies, tribal, state and local governments, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, environmental justice stakeholders, and the public. Version 1.0 of CEJST includes new datasets, updated methodology, improvements to the site experience, and more.
CEJST version 1.0 identifies 27,251 communities as disadvantaged or semi-disadvantaged, an increase of 3,781 communities from the beta version. Communities are considered affected if they meet at least one of the instrument’s burden categories and corresponding economic indicator thresholds in a census tract or are located on federally recognized tribal land.
Changes included in CEJST version 1.0 include:
- the rise of tribal nations; After meaningful and robust consultation with tribal nations, CEJST version 1.0 identifies lands within the boundaries of federally recognized tribes and Alaska Native village areas as vulnerable communities using data from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- New information about load indicators: Version 1.0 of the CEJST includes nine new datasets to identify burdens related to:
- Planned climate disasters Information showing the risks of floods and wildfires
- Transportation barriers Data, using the US Department of Transportation’s own mapping tool
- Lack of green space Information to help identify communities affected by nature
- Lack of domestic plumbing Information to better identify communities with low-income households that lack critical infrastructure
- Restoring information To identify communities facing historical low investment
- Old pollution Information on communities near abandoned mines and previously used defense sites
- Water pollution Information based on information about underground storage tanks that may leak
- Changes made to improve accuracy: Version 1.0 of the CEJST makes changes to enhance accuracy and ensure communities are not overlooked:
- It includes communities that are completely surrounded by other disadvantaged communities and meet the adjusted minimum income threshold.
- It excludes students enrolled in higher education based on their low income
- Adding data for US states Includes additional information for US territories (Guam, US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico). Also, the Stakeholder Feedback Tool removes language barriers from Puerto Rico’s concerns.
- Improved User Interface: CEJST version 1.0 made improvements to the user interface, including:
- Showing race and age demographics for census tracts
- Improving the design of the side panel of the map
- Improve the zoom function of the device
- Add geographic location feature
Several updates included in CEJST version 1.0 were recommended by the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, including adding historical inclusion information, identifying tribal nations, displaying demographic information, and improving climate change vulnerability information.
“I am pleased to see the recommendations of our White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council reflected in the updated Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.” said Richard Moore, chairman of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and director of the Los Jardins Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “The changes made sure CEQ heard and incorporated community input, including the voices of the people who deserve the clean air and water and uncontaminated soil that Los Jardins Institute serves here in New Mexico. There is more work to be done, but this is a positive step in the administration’s efforts to bring environmental justice to all.
“The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) can be useful in advancing Justice40, so I expect the public and advocacy community to focus on how it can be used to identify and prioritize environmental justice communities.” said Peggy Shepard, co-chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice.
“The newly reformed CEJST is a major achievement in strengthening the struggles of communities that have traditionally been neglected and underserved.” Catherine Coleman Flowers, vice chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. “As someone who has fought for equitable water infrastructure across America, I’m grateful to have a tool that outlines how federal agencies can deliver resources to those who need them most. Together we can build a clean, just future.
“After months of national discussion and much effort, today’s CEJST publication is a critical step toward making federal investments count toward environmental justice—the spirit of the Justice40 initiative.” said Dr. Kyle White, co-chair of WHEJAC’s Indigenous and Tribal Nation Working Group and professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability. “Community service organizations, tribal governments, federal agencies and a variety of other tools can now actively use the application to promote equity, justice and empowerment for the people they serve.”
“Prior pollution is a growing problem in Appalachia. In response to engagement and engagement with communities, the Council on Environmental Quality has updated the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool to better reflect the reality on the ground of abandoned mines. said Tom Cormons, a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and Executive Director of Appalachian Voices in Charlottesville, Virginia. “This will help ensure historic levels of federal funding for land reclamation and clean energy development go to the right places and create economic opportunity where it’s needed most.”
CEJST will continue to be updated based on public feedback that can be provided on the CEJST website. It also has national academies of science, engineering and medicine He established a committee Environmental health and geospatial data to analyze how to continue improving the screening tool. With the support of the US Digital Service, CEJST uses an open source platform that provides full transparency on the methodology and datasets used.
“Accurate and reliable data, analysis and tools will be essential to the success of Justice40 programs.” America’s digital services manager Mina Hsiang said. “USDS has been able to bring our expertise in data analytics, state-of-the-art technology, and building open and open source from the ground up, which will increase trust and enable accuracy and adaptability moving forward.”
The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool version 1.0 is available at https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov.
A FAQ with more information on the device can be found over here.
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