Today, as we reflect on the ways American presidents have transformed our nation, we also look to the work being done right now to better serve communities and right past wrongs. Through President Joe Biden’s Justice40 initiative, the Biden-Harris Administration is actively working to dismantle unjust systems that disproportionately harm Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities by delivering historic clean energy investments to underserved and overburdened communities.
Communities of color have long suffered from the negative environmental outcomes of industrialization, infrastructure, and energy policies.
According to a 2017 report from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Clean Air Task Force, Black Americans are 75 percent more likely to live near and be directly impacted by a company, industrial, or service facility. Moreover, the Princeton Student Climate Initiative found that people of color are more likely to die from environmental causes and are more likely to live near hazardous waste.
Acute underinvestment in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities and the absence of clean energy innovations has only exacerbated the negative health impacts community members experience.
Originally published at https://www.energy.gov/articles/achieving-climate-energy-justice-president-bidens-justice40-initiative