Justice40 for a Just Transition

On January 27, 2021, President Biden signed  Executive Order 14008 , tasking a group of executive branch officials with developing recommendations to ensure that 40% of the overall benefits of federal investments in climate-related programs flow to disadvantaged communities. This is called the Justice40 Initiative (J40I). The J40I is a "whole-of-government approach" to advancing towards environmental justice and economic inclusion.

In this StoryMap, we intend to answer the following questions about Justice40:

1. What is J40?
2. How is it being implemented right now?
3. What needs to happen to ensure success?

Because the Justice 40 Initiative is a political commitment without specific funds earmarked for its implementation, each individual federal agency was charged with defining the methods for ensuring that the Initiative is carried out. Some specific details about implementation have been outlined for the agencies in  Memorandum 21-28 .

On May 23, 2022, the  White House announced it has released over $29 billion in funding consistent with Justice40 . According to  Harvard University's Federal EJ Tracker , this funding includes $500 million to electrify school buses, $1.3 billion to remediate and reduce pollution, and $725 million to reclaim abandoned mine lands.

There are nearly  470 programs across 19 federal agencies  that are covered under Justice40, as of August 2022. In April 2023, President Biden signed an  Executive Order to Revitalize Our Nation's Commitment to Environmental Justice for All . Among other things, this Executive Order:

• calls for executive branch agencies to incorporate into their missions the pursuit of environmental justice,
• requires agencies to notify nearby communities in the event of a release of toxic substances from a federal facility, and to hold a public meeting to share information on resulting health risks and necessary precautions, and
• underscores the vital importance of Tribal consultation and coordination in agency decision-making.

The April 2023 EO is the culmination of decades of frontline organizing power. The EO charges federal agencies with conducting new assessments of their environmental justice efforts and developing, implementing, and periodically updating an environmental justice strategic plan. The Office of Management and Budget and the Council for Environmental Quality have made these assessments public via the Environmental Justice (EJ) Scorecard. The graphic below illustrates the number of J40 covered programs in each agency and the amount of funding made available through these programs, based on the most recent updates (FY22) to the  EJ Scorecard .

The federal agencies with the most J40 covered funding include:

• The Department of Transportation ($23.4 billion)
• The Department of Energy ($21.8 billion)
• The Environmental Protection Agency ($14 billion)

The federal agencies with the most J40-covered programs include:

• Department of Commerce (146)
• Environmental Protection Agency (73)
• Denali Commission and Department of the Interior (each 65)

Click on the link below for a visual graphic of the number of programs and funding covered by J40 for 18 federal agencies:

The slides below detail a few examples of environmental justice program modifications that federal agencies have made since the Justice40 Initiative. These examples come directly from the EJ Scorecard. You can read more about each agency on the EJ Scorecard website.

Anchored in love, service, and a sincere commitment to frontline communities, the Justice40 Accelerator (J40A) seeks to leverage this moment to radically reimagine the existing government resource delivery system as a restorative and reparative framework that better supports Black and historically disinvested communities of color. The Justice40 Accelerator shares information, resources, and capacity with cohorts of frontline community organizations to support them as they formulate projects and successfully apply to the federal funding opportunities presented by the Justice40 Initiative.

So far, the Justice40 Accelerator has launched three separate cohorts, in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Combined, they represent about 150 organizations from across the country. 

The map above includes census tracts that the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool has identified as disadvantaged. This Tool was created without the inclusion of race or ethnicity as a defining factor in "disadvantage". A race-neutral approach to Environmental Justice mapping overlooks the fact that communities experiencing the highest burdens are, in fact, Black and People of Color. While the Council claims this decision was made to avoid political and legal pushback, removing race from this conversation diminishes the codified reality that structural racism has played in creating current conditions and the role that it continues to play to maintain them.

Our nation faces a pivotal moment to transform federal funding into a system that is more inclusive and maximizes equitable social, economic, and environmental benefits for communities. 

Beyond the actions taken thus far, the federal government needs to make a series of active structural changes in its programs and policies to ensure that it is not simply shifting funding around within the same systems that continue to reinforce harm (see  Why is Justice40 Necessary? ).

 Executive Order 13985 , Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, was released just one week before the Justice40 Executive Order, demonstrating the clear interrelationship between the directives outlined in each.  E.O. 13985 states, “Because advancing equity requires a systematic approach to embedding fairness in decision-making processes, executive departments and agencies must recognize and work to redress inequities in their policies and programs that serve as barriers to equal opportunity.”

The Order then lays out, in general terms, directives for advancing equity across the federal government. One part of the Order entails a directive for the Office of Management and Budget to deliver a  report  to the President identifying agency barriers to equity, as well as a list of equity best practices to replicate across all agencies.  

Organizations and entities across the country have also responded to the Justice40 Initiative by developing recommendations for structural government changes to ensure a system in which equity can be realized. These recommendations are synthesized from a variety of sources (cited in the References section) in the checklists below. They fall under four categories of recommendations (pictured below) and apply to the federal government (Office of Management & Budget), federal agencies, state and local governments, and philanthropic institutions.

A Just Transition, according to the Just Transition Alliance, is "a principle, a process, and a practice" that envisions positive outcomes for all in terms of environment, economy, and equity. None of these elements need to be mutually exclusive, and a Just Transition ensures that everyone is afforded fair access to the best in each of these.

Within this framework, communities at the frontlines of climate, environmental, and social injustices are equipped with the capacity and resources to operationalize the wisdom and solutions they possess to create systemic transformational change.

The Justice40 Initiative propels us in the right direction, but it's not a magic bullet. As Co-Executive Director of Climate Justice Alliance Ozama Albert stated soon after the announcement of the Executive Order to Revitalize Our Nation's Commitment to Environmental Justice for All,

"...as we celebrate today’s victory, we must also recognize that Biden has come to be known worldwide as the fossil fuel president, having approved more drilling projects on federal land than Trump during their first two years in office. The recent approval of harmful, extractive drilling leases such as the Willow Project in Alaska, in the Gulf and the LNG pipeline, demonstrate the need for coherent and aligned policies that move us toward a truly Just Transition, not an expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure... Our communities will continue to organize to stop false solutions, support regenerative economic solutions, and ensure that justice and equity are codified and implemented at the rate and speed needed to meet the moment.”

The recommendations we've highlighted above will help us get there. We also need to continue to hold our government and institutions accountable to their promises, potential, and power, embedding environmental and racial justice into every level of decision-making.

 Read on  to learn more about the need for a Just Transition.