How the Emerging Environmental Justice Paradigm Will Shape Risk Profiles and Investment Opportunities

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Early actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Biden point toward robust implementation of environmental justice risk mapping tools and metrics that will affect environmental compliance and enforcement policies, from permitting and approval of new projects to remediation and legacy liability management of existing sites in overburdened communities. The emerging environmental justice paradigm responds to the fact that the burden of climate change, hazardous waste sites and industrial development projects fall disproportionately on low income communities of color, which communities are often linguistically isolated with insufficient educational resources. Ultimately, environmental justice will drive a wide range of federal policies, prioritizing communities most affected by environmental and climate inequities.

The presentation will focus on recent developments in the area as well as an introduction to the EPA’s environmental justice mapping tool.  Credit Investors with a basic understanding of the policy paradigm will be better equipped to evaluate these emerging risks and opportunities, particularly as they arise in the loan origination and diligence context.