About
Justice40
The Justice40 Initiative, established by President Biden in Executive Order 14008, was a federal government-wide effort to direct 40 percent of the overall benefits from environment-related investments back to disadvantaged communities. These are communities that have been historically marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. Justice40 covered more than 400 programs across two dozen federal agencies and focused on investments in climate change, clean energy, sustainable housing, workforce development, pollution reduction, and clean water infrastructure. This approach not only addressed historical inequities but also encouraged economic opportunity in these communities, serving as a critical part of the administration's whole-of-government approach to advancing environmental justice. The initiative was reversed by the Trump administration in January 2025.
Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool
The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), developed by the US Digital Service, was a key component of the Justice40 Initiative. It was a geospatial mapping tool that identified disadvantaged communities across the United States that were marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. It organized burdens into eight categories: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, water and wastewater, and workforce development. CEJST was removed in January 2025, though archived versions have been preserved by various organizations.
CEJST+
This project was created as a Master of Environmental Data Science Capstone Project at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. This project seeks to extend and improve CEJST’s model by assessing the cumulative impacts of climate and environmental burdens across communities in the U.S. By analyzing and incorporating cumulative burdens using cutting-edge geospatial techniques, the revised screening tool will promote more meaningful and equitable investment into overburdened disadvantaged communities facing the greatest risk from climate change. The project contributors are:
Get involved
Join the open source community
The tool’s code is open source, which means it is available for the public to view and contribute to it.