Climate Plans and Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Boards

Following years of research on the global impact of climate change, states in the Northeast and the nation at large have begun to pass laws aiming both to curb greenhouse emissions and to instill equity and environmental justice into emission reduction efforts. Being less than three decades from 2050, many states have codified their mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to 80-85% from 1990 levels and achieve net zero by that timeframe. To help keep states on track to achieve those goals, states have charged climate leadership governing bodies and/or state agencies to carefully guide the decision-making process and lead states to achieve their GHG reduction targets in the various sectors of the economy. Each state designates its climate leadership body slightly differently: for example, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts assembled the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) Implementation Advisory Committee (IAC); Rhode Island refers to its governing body as the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4); the state of Connecticut’s climate governing body is the Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3); and the Maine Climate Council (MCC) spearheads the climate plans for the state of Maine. Other variations exist in different states in the region.

Though these climate leadership councils are critical for comprehensive climate planning, they have been focused first and foremost on emissions reductions, and some of their members may have limited understanding or direct experience of underlying issues of inequity and environmental injustice in the context of climate action. This poses a challenge in properly crafting climate solutions for many communities that are in a disadvantaged or underserved position in the transition to a clean energy future. Many states, recognizing this limitation, began putting together a second similar council to provide equity and environmental justice guidance for climate solutions and work alongside the climate leadership councils/bodies. These equity and environmental justice forums were created by a mix of legislative and executive actions and were tasked with the responsibility of providing an equity and justice lens and guidance to the climate plans.^1,2,3 However, many states in the Northeast have formed these equity forums as either working groups or advisory bodies for input and consultation, which in turn has presented some limitations in the scope and effectiveness of their roles to influence and shape climate policy decision-making.

For the protection of low-income and environmental justice communities, equity-related barriers in the transition must be considered at the beginning of the formulation of the climate plans. Researching states’ climate plans showed that most of the input from the equity advisory councils and working groups were considered comments or recommendations in response to already-drafted climate plans, written separately by their states’ climate councils. While better than lacking recommendations, soliciting equity-focused feedback to already-crafted climate plans hinders innovative and well-thought-out solutions that could work better for environmental justice and low-income communities.

Another major limitation of the equity and environmental justice advisory council model in the Northeast is their role as advisory forums with limited capacity to spearhead the inclusion of equity causes in climate plans. States in the Northeast must find ways to establish both legal direction and agency resourcing/backing for environmental justice initiatives if there is to be a consistent, effective championing of equity and environmental justice as a concept with consequences throughout the development and implementation of each state’s climate plan. Creating agencies or offices and hiring full-time public servants dedicated to environmental justice is a first step. Massachusetts recently took this leap in 2023 with the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity within the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). Another promising model was California’s Bureau of Environmental Justice within its state Department of Justice to provide state entities with a means to maintain accountability when equity standards are not upheld.  The Northeast can do even better; however, it begins by empowering equity and environmental justice councils as more than just advisory bodies but as partners in co-designing equitable climate solutions.

For more information:

Joy Yakie, Environmental Justice and Outreach Manager  jyakie@acadiacenter.org, 617–742-0054 x110

_{____________________________________}

1. _{About the Environmental Justice Council, MA: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/about-the-environmental-justice-council-ejc}
2. _{Maine Climate Council Equity Subcommittee: https://www.maine.gov/future/initiatives/climate/climate-council/equity-subcommittee}
3. _{New York State Climate Justice Working Group: https://climate.ny.gov/Resources/Climate-Justice-Working-Group}