Justice40 row pic 1

“When you hear President Biden say he wants to Build a Better America… he means a more equitable America. A more inclusive America. A more just America. And we’ll build it with clean energy.”

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

Read Secretary Granholm’s Letter to Justice40 Stakeholders

What is Justice40?

During his first week in office, President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Section 223 of EO 14008 established the Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments – including investments in clean energy and energy efficiency; clean transit; affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution; and the development of clean water infrastructure – to flow to disadvantaged communities (DACs).

To learn more, visit the White House Justice40 Initiative website here.

How is DOE Implementing Justice40?

On July 20, 2021, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released Interim Implementation Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative, M-21-28 (OMB Interim Guidance), which has guided the Department’s work on Justice40 along with relevant statutory authorities.

Based on stakeholder engagement, priorities identified by White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), and additional research, the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity identified eight policy priorities to guide DOE’s implementation of Justice40:

  1. Decrease energy burden in disadvantaged communities (DACs).
  2. Decrease environmental exposure and burdens for DACs
  3. Increase parity in clean energy technology (e.g., solar, storage) access and adoption in DACs.
  4. Increase access to low-cost capital in DACs.
  5. Increase clean energy enterprise creation and contracting (MBE/DBE) in DACs.
  6. Increase clean energy jobs, job pipeline, and job training for individuals from DACs.
  7. Increase energy resiliency in DACs.
  8. Increase energy democracy in DACs.

What is a Community Benefits Plan?

The Department of Energy (DOE) requires Community Benefits Plans as part of all BIL and IRA funding opportunity announcements (FOAs).
Community Benefits Plans (CBPs) are based on a set of four core policy priorities: 

  1. Engaging communities and labor; 
  2. Investing in America’s workforce; 
  3. Advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; and 
  4. Implementing the Justice40 Initiative. 

These key principles, when incorporated comprehensively into project proposals and executed upon, will help ensure broadly shared prosperity in the clean energy transition.

Community Benefits Plan are intentionally flexible to generate the best approaches from applicants and their partners. Plans must be specific, actionable, and measurable. In most cases, these plans are scored at 20 percent of the technical merit review of proposals.

When an applicant is selected, their Community Benefits Plan will be part of the contractual obligation of the funding recipient. A summary of the Community Benefits Plan will be publicly posted on DOE’s website for transparency and accountability.

CBP Resources

  • CBP FAQs  (Frequently Asked Questions).
  • CBP Template to accompany funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) applications.
  • CBP 101. Senior DOE officials introduce the purpose and importance of CBPs, and energy justice liaisons present a deep dive into each of the four CBP requirements.

What is a Justice40 covered program?

A “covered program” is a Federal Government program that falls in the scope of the Justice40 initiative because it includes investments that can benefit disadvantaged communities across one or more of the following seven areas: climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure. Existing and new programs created by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that make investments in any of these categories can also be considered Justice40 covered programs.

All Justice40 covered programs are required to engage in stakeholder consultation and ensure that community stakeholders are meaningfully involved in determining program benefits. Covered programs are also required to report data on the benefits directed to disadvantaged communities.

View DOE's Justice40 covered programs here.

What is a Disadvantaged Community? 

Justice40 directs that 40% of benefits from Covered Programs flow to “disadvantaged communities.” OMB’s Interim Implementation Guidance defines a community as either: (1) Geographic: a group of individuals living in geographic proximity (such as census tract), or (2) Common condition: a geographically dispersed set of individuals (such as migrant workers or Native Americans), where either type of group experiences common conditions. 

For the “geographic” definition of community, pursuant to the Interim Implementation Guidance and OMB guidance M-23-09, DOE recognizes as disadvantaged those census tracts identified by the White House Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), which is located at https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/.  

For the “common condition” definition of community, federally recognized tribal lands and U.S. territories are categorized as disadvantaged in accordance with OMB’s Interim Implementation Guidance. 

Overview of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST)

Nationwide, the CEJST identifies approximately 27,251 census tracts as disadvantaged. The method for identifying these is explained in detail at: Methodology & data - Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool (geoplatform.gov)

Generally, a census tract that meets the threshold for: 1) environmental, climate, or other burdens, and 2) an associated socio-economic burden will be marked as disadvantaged. CEJST considers the following eight categories of burden: 

  1. climate change, 
  2. energy, 
  3. health, 
  4. housing, 
  5. legacy pollution, 
  6. transportation, 
  7. water and wastewater, and 
  8. workforce development. 

In addition, a census tract that is completely surrounded by disadvantaged communities and is at or above the 50% percentile for low income is also considered disadvantaged.

Figure 1: CEJST Map of United States Explore the map - Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool (geoplatform.gov) 

(U.S. territories are included in the definition but are not displayed below)

CEJST Map of United States

Within each category of the CEJST tool there may be several indicators using a variety of datasets (See Figure 1 below). For example, within the “climate change” category, there are 5 indicators (expected agricultural loss rate, expected building loss rate, expected population loss rate, projected flood risk, projected wildfire risk) and 1 socioeconomic indicator (low income). Meeting the threshold of 1 indicator in the climate change category in addition to the socioeconomic indicator will cause the census tract to be identified as a DAC. CEJST v1.0 has a total of 37 indicators among eight categories plus socioeconomic indicators (low income).

Figure 2: CEJST List of Indicators

Climate Change (5)

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • Expected agricultural loss rate
  • Expected building loss rate
  • Expected population loss rate
  • Projected flood risk
  • Projected wildlife risk

AND >= 65th percentile for low-income

Legacy Pollution (5)

  • Have at least one abandoned mine land, or;
  • Formerly used defense sites

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • Proximity to hazardous waste facilities
  • Proximity to superfund sites
  • Priorities list
  • Proximity to risk management plan facilities

AND >= 65th percentile for low-income

Energy (2)

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • energy cost
  • PM2.5 in the air

AND >= 65th percentile for low-income

Transportation (5)

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • Diesel particulate matter exposure
  • Transportation barrier
  • Traffic proximity and volume

AND >= 65th percentile for low-income

Health (4)

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • Asthma
  • Diabetes
  • Heart disease
  • Low life expectancy

AND >= 65th percentile for low-income

Water and Wastewater (2)

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • Underground storage tanks and releases
  • Wastewater discharge

AND >= 65th percentile for low-income

Housing (5)

  • Experienced historic underinvestment (redlined) OR

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • Housing cost
  • Lack of green space
  • Lack of indoor plumbing
  • Lead

AND >= 65th percentile for low-income

Workforce Development (4)

>=90th percentile for at least one of these:

  • Linguistic isolation
  • Low median income
  • Poverty
  • Unemployment

AND< 10% people older than 25 have a high school diploma

Prioritizing Communities using the DOE Disadvantaged Community Reporter

The CEJST tool was designed to be inclusive of many indicators relevant to multiple federal agencies, and thus identifies a broad number of census tracts across the United States as disadvantaged communities. OMB guidance allows federal agencies to further prioritize CEJST census tracts using indicators specific to the mission of those agencies. 

Accordingly, DOE funding recipients can use the DOE DAC score to better understand the burdens experienced by census tracts identified in the CEJST tool. For example, a funding recipient implementing an energy efficiency program may be interested in understanding what CEJST census tracts in their area experience the highest energy burden. See Section IV.A. for an example of how the DOE DAC score can be used with CEJST for program funding and design. 

Figure 3: DOE DAC score for CEJST census tracts.

DOE DAC score for CEJST census tracts.

DOE calculates the DAC score as follows: For every census tract, DOE considers 36 indicators grouped in four categories as shown in Figure 4. The national percentile rank for each indicator is calculated by census tract. DOE summed percentiles across all indicators to create a score for each census tract. Each indicator was given equal weight. The final scores for each tract could range from 0 to 36, where a total score of 36 would represent the largest disadvantage. 

This score between 0 (least disadvantaged) and up to 36 (most disadvantaged) can be used to prioritize within the set of CEJST defined disadvantaged tracts and identify those tracts with the highest cumulative burdens. The score for each census tract, geospatial data files and an Excel spreadsheet of the underlying DACs can be found at https://energyjustice.egs.anl.gov/.

Variable

Description

Source

>30 min commute

Percent of total population with a drive time to employment greater than or equal to 30 minutes

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

No Vehicle

Percent of total population with no vehicle(s) available

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Uninsured

Percent of population without health insurance

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Disability

Percent of the non-institutionalized population with any disability

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Unemployment

Percent of civilian labor force reported as unemployed

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Low Income

Percent of total population reported at or below area median income

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Incomplete Plumbing

Percent of occupied housing units without complete plumbing

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Single Parent

Proportion of family households with children under age 18 with only one parent

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Mobile Home

Percent of total population in mobile homes

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Non-grid-connected heating fuel

Percent of households that use a fuel other than grid-connected gas or electricity or solar energy as their main heat source

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019)

Population 65 and older

Percent of total population over age 64

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Homes Built Before 1960

Percent of housing units built before 1960 (lead paint indicator)

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Diesel

EJ Index for Diesel particulate matter level in air

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Cancer

EJ Index for Air toxics cancer risk

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Traffic Proximity

EJ Index for Traffic proximity and volume

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Water Discharge

EJ Index for Indicator for major direct dischargers to water

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

NPL Proximity

EJ Index for Proximity to National Priorities List (NPL) sites

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

RMP Proximity

EJ Index for Proximity to Risk Management Plan (RMP) facilities

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

TSDF Proximity

EJ Index for Proximity to Treatment Storage and Disposal (TSDF) facilities

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

PM2.5

EJ Index for PM2.5 level in air

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Less HS Education

Percent of total population, age 25 and older, whose reported education is short of a high school diploma

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Linguistic Isolation

Percent of households living in linguistically isolated households. A household in which all members age 14 years and over speak a non-English language and also speak English less than "very well" (have difficulty with English) is linguistically isolated.

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021)

Parks

Negative count of parks per census tract

(Esri, 2019)

Transportation Burden

Transportation Costs % Income for the Regional Typical Household

(Center for Neighborhood Technology, 2017)

Renters

Proportion of occupied housing units not occupied by property owners

(Center for Neighborhood Technology, 2017)

Housing Costs

Housing Costs % Income for the Regional Typical Household

(Center for Neighborhood Technology, 2017)

Job Access

Reciprocal of Job Access Score (0-10)

(Center for Neighborhood Technology, 2017)

Fossil energy employment

Percent of total civilian jobs in the fossil energy sector

(Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, 2021)

Coal employment

Percent of total civilian jobs in the coal sector

(Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, 2021)

Food Desert

Share of neighborhood without access to affordable or good-quality fresh food (Percentage who live within 1/2 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural) of supermarket

(“USDA ERS - Food Access Research Atlas,” 2021)

Internet Access

Percent of Households with No Internet Access

(U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2021)

Homelessness

Representative of homeless population; calculated using total number of Sheltered and Unsheltered Population per sq. km

(U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2019)

Energy Burden

Annual average energy burden based on average annual housing energy costs divided by the average annual household income

(U.S. Department of Energy, 2018)

Outage Events

Number of power outage events that occurred for all census tracts in each county from 2017-2020

(U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity Energy Security and Emergency Response, 2021)

Outage Duration

Average duration of power outage events (in minutes) that occurred for all census tracts in each county from 2017-2020

(U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity Energy Security and Emergency Response, 2021)

Climate Hazards

Expected annual loss of life (fatalities and injuries) from 18 climate hazards

(U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2021)

Data Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau. (2019). American Community Survey (ACS) 5 Year Estimates 2015-2019.
  2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2021). EJSCREEN: Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool. Retrieved May 5, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen
  3. Esri. (2019). USA Parks. Retrieved from https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=578968f975774d3fab79fe56c8c90941
  4. Center for Neighborhood Technology. (2017). H + T Index Methods.
  5. Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. (2021). Initial Report to the President on Empowering Workers Through Revitalizing Energy Communities. (April).
  6. USDA ERS - Food Access Research Atlas. (2021). Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/
  7. U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (2021). Indicators of Broadband Need. Retrieved from https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/resources/data-and-mapping
  8. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2019). Continuum of Care GIS Tools. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/gis-tools/
  9. U.S. Department of Energy. (2018). Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from /eere/slsc/low-income-energy-affordability-data-lead-tool
  10. U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity Energy Security and Emergency Response. (2021). Electric Disturbance Events (Form OE-417) Annual Summaries.
  11. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2021). National Risk Index. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://hazards.fema.gov/nri/

What is a merit reviewer and how do I become one? 

Merit reviews are required for all discretionary DOE financial assistance grant and cooperative agreement awards made competitively and noncompetitively. DOE is looking for a diverse group of people with wide-ranging expertise (from engineering to DEIA to solar power to energy justice) to help review funding applications. If you would like to be a merit reviewer, please complete this form and a member of our team will be in touch!

Being a merit reviewer is an opportunity to,

  • Serve your country and help invest resources in communities and workers to build a just clean energy future.
  • Meet other reviewers and DOE staff, building new professional networks and partnerships.
  • Experience the federal policy-making process up close. 

If you have questions, please email us at energyjustice@hq.doe.gov.

Guidance and Factsheets

Additional Resources

Video Url
Justice40 Webinar Recording, August 17,2022
Department of Energy

Many joined Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm and Director Shalanda Baker for the Justice40 Kickoff Webinar on August 17th as they introduced how the Department of Energy is implementing the Justice40 Initiative. Featured representatives from offices across the Department of Energy highlighted their programs, including those funded by the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Speakers Include:

  • Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Department of Energy
  • Shalanda Baker, Director, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity
  • Dr. Tony Reames, Deputy Director, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity
  • Jeremiah Baumann, Chief of Staff to the Undersecretary of Infrastructure
  • Sonrisa Lucero, Special Advisor for Stakeholder Engagement, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity
  • Annamaria Garcia, Director, Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Office
  • Nicole Steele, Program Manager, Workforce and Equitable Access - Solar Energy Technologies Office
  • Dr. Alexis McKittrick, Program manager, Geothermal Technologies Office
  • Margaret Smith, Technology Manager, Clean Cities, Vehicle Technologies Office
  • Dr. Julie Carruthers, Senior Science and Technology Advisor, Office of Science, RENEW

If you have additional questions or comments, please contact us at energyjustice@hq.doe.gov.