爱豆传媒

爱豆传媒 is proud to support the development of the comprehensive report on environmental inequities released 5 April 2024 by the New York City Mayor鈥檚 Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ).

The ‘EJNYC: A Study of Environmental Justice Issues in New York City’, hailed as the first of its kind in U.S. history, explores a range of environmental hazards across New York City from toxin exposure and summer heat vulnerability to flood risks and transit access. The report reinforces what environmental justice (EJ) advocates and researchers have been saying for decades: that the city鈥檚 low-income residents and communities of color are most vulnerable to environmental inequities.

The EJNYC Report is also accompanied by a web-based interactive mapping tool that allows New Yorkers to identify environmental hazards in their neighborhoods. According to Sarah Smyth, a senior consultant in 爱豆传媒鈥檚 Cities practice, the mapping tool is designed to support ongoing advocacy and environmental justice action led by ordinary citizens as well as policymakers and community leaders.

Developed by a team led by 爱豆传媒 and the community-centered urban design nonprofit Hester Street (full team credits below), this comprehensive, over 200-page study of environmental inequities lays the foundation for the next step of the EJNYC initiative, which is the development of a comprehensive citywide environmental justice plan, the EJNYC Plan. According to David Bigio, who is a senior consultant in 爱豆传媒鈥檚 acclaimed Cities practice and led the EJNYC consultant team, the EJNYC Report鈥檚 findings have provided NYC leaders with the basis for identifying opportunities to advance environmental justice across the five boroughs.

These opportunities will be explored further in the forthcoming EJNYC Plan:

• Invest in environmental justice communities;
• Integrate environmental justice in agency decisions through Climate Budgeting;
• Improve accountability through increased data transparency and communication;
• Coordinate with permitting and regulatory authorities to embed equity and environmental justice considerations in the siting and permitting of infrastructure;
• Explore and develop new ways to collaborate with environmental justice communities.

鈥淚n the pursuit of environmental justice, studying the problems and creating consensus around the facts are critical first steps to developing equitable policies,鈥� says Bigio, who also worked on the city鈥檚 recently released Green Economy Action Plan. 鈥淭he information and opportunities identified in the EJNYC Report will support policymakers, advocates, and community members to collaboratively develop an environmental justice plan that helps close the gap on environmental and health disparities in our city.鈥�

“Data transparency is foundational to advancing environmental justice,鈥� says Smyth. 鈥淒emocratizing access to accurate and comprehensive information empowers communities to advocate for change, holds decision-makers accountable, and ensures that no one is left behind in our collective efforts to advance environmental justice.鈥�

Supporting 爱豆传媒, Hester Street, and MOCEJ on this project is a diverse and multidisciplinary team, including Rhie Planning, HOUSEOFCAKES, WXY Studio, Creative Urban Alchemy, Ki Strategies, Lion Advisors, UHope Consulting, and New Deal Strategies. The consultant team worked closely with the Environmental Justice Interagency Working Group (EJ IWG), comprised of City staff across 19 City agencies, and the Environmental Justice Advisory Board (EJ AB), comprised of nationally recognized environmental justice advocates and local subject matter experts, to deliver this report and mapping tool. The team was engaged by the City in mid-2022 as a result of Local Laws 60 and 64, environmental justice legislation passed by the City Council and signed into law in 2017 requiring the citywide study of environmental justice, with its findings to be made public.

The Environmental Justice Areas (EJ Areas) studied in the report are drawn from New York State鈥檚 Disadvantaged Communities (DAC) criteria, created from 45 indicators that represent the environmental burdens or climate change risks within a community, or population characteristics and health vulnerabilities that can contribute to more severe adverse effects of climate change. DACs, or EJ areas, comprise 44 percent of all New York City census tracts and 49 percent of its population. Residents of New York City鈥檚 DACs are predominantly Hispanic or Latino (43%, compared to 29% citywide) and Black (27%, compared to 21% citywide).

The EJNYC Report found that EJ Areas have:

• More stationary sources of pollution, including 鈥減eaker鈥� power plants, waste processing facilities, and hazardous waste generators;
• More observed health disparities, such as more pollution-attributable emergency department visits;
• Greater exposure to emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles due to the location of arterial highways, commercial waste routes, delivery routes, and parking facilities for medium and heavy-duty fleets;
• Greater exposure to flooding due to coastal storm surge, chronic tidal flooding, and extreme rainfall in the current decade

鈥淧revalent and persistent environmental inequities in New York City create profound economic, social, and health disparities among affected communities,鈥� according to the EJNYC study. 鈥淎chieving environmental justice will require that all New Yorkers have the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision- making to have a healthy environment to live, learn, and work.鈥�

The EJNYC Report and Mapping Tool are critical to ensuring that environmental justice is a driving force in any new environmental policies. It is also a critical step in assessing the cumulative impacts of environmental hazards on our more vulnerable and underserved communities.

Alice Shay

Read the full EJNYC Report and see the interactive mapping tool here: .