Justice40 Initiative
U.S. Department of Commerce
The Justice40 Initiative was established by President Biden in Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Justice40 establishes a federal government-wide goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.
Last year, formal guidance, M-21-28, Interim Implementation Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative, was issued. The M-21-28 guidance memo provided further direction to federal agencies on the Initiative while also identifying 21 pilot programs. More recent guidance, M-23-09, requires programs to use the new Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) to identify these disadvantaged communities.
What is a covered J40 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
Development of critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure
Existing and new programs created by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the American Rescue Plan that make investments in any of these categories can also be considered covered under President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative. As such, we expect the Department of Commerce’s covered programs list to evolve over time as new federal programs are created or existing federal programs sunset.
https://www.commerce.gov/justice40-initiative