Building Public Tools to Advance Environmental Justice (US0120)

Many communities across the country—and especially those that are disadvantaged, marginalized, and underserved communities—face environmental risks, including exposure to pollution and toxic waste, lack of access to clean drinking water, and insufficient protec- 7 tion from storms and floods, among other harms. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that all Americans live in healthy, thriving communities and is acting on that commitment in several important environmental justice initiatives.

Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad launched the first-ever White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) to provide recommendations on how to address current and historic environmental injustice as well as to advance environmental justice, including in the area of climate change mitigation, resilience, and disaster management. Initial recommendations from the WHEJAC will inform the design of a new public Environmental Justice Scorecard, which will track the environmental justice advances across the Administration. The scorecard will be produced by the Office of Management and Budget, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Digital Service, and informed by public input from a Request for Informa- tion published in August 2022. The Federal Government commits to implementing this scorecard as a tool for the public to help hold Federal programs accountable for equitable environmental justice investments. The public scorecard will complement the recently-released public Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, called for in E.O. 14008, which will help Federal agencies identify disadvantaged communities for the Justice40 Initiative, which seeks to direct 40% of the overall benefits of investments in climate and related areas to disadvantaged communities. It also helps members of the public visualize environmental and economic disadvantage present in their communities.