Our Common Future, Chairman's Foreword 

"A global agenda for change" - this was what the World Commission on Environment and Development was asked to formulate. It was an urgent call by the General Assembly of the United Nations: 

Global transformations – from population ageing to digitalisation, rising inequalities and climate change – have created profound uncertainties for young people and future generations, despite unprecedented access to information, education and technology. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing challenges in youth’s mental well-being and employment, while raising concerns about the sustainability of public finances.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative® works to ensure that young people — ages 14 to 26 in the United States who have spent at least one day in foster care after their 14th birthday — have the resources, relationships and opportunities to achieve well-being and success. The Jim Casey Initiative does this by focusing on four key indicators: permanency, stable housing, educational success and economic security and pregnancy prevention and parenting support.

The present report has been prepared pursuant to paragraph 86 of the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, in which the Secretary-General was invited to present a report on the need for promoting intergenerational solidarity for the achievement of sustainable development, taking into account the needs of future generations.

1. IFC has prepared a set of Guidance Notes, corresponding to the Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability. These Guidance Notes offer helpful guidance on the requirements contained in the Performance Standards, including reference materials, and on good sustainability practices to improve project performance. These Guidance Notes are not intended to establish policy by themselves; instead, they explain the requirements in the Performance Standards. 

Large-scale investments in land are spreading faster than ever before across the global south. Often these investments target lands governed by customary rights that are not adequately recognized and protected under national laws, or sites where governments lack the capacity to enforce the law. Land deals that change the use of land and natural resources have wide implications for indigenous peoples and local communities who depend primarily on these resources for their livelihoods, welfare and cultural identity.

In November 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or Department) re‐established its Environmental Justice (EJ) Task Force to review and update the 1995 Environmental Justice Strategy and develop an Environmental Justice Five‐Year Implementation Plan.

The Department of Energy (hereinafter DOE or the Department) is responsible for ensuring the Nation’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. DOE maintains the Nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, reduces the threat of nuclear proliferation, oversees the Nation’s energy supply, leads the Nation in areas of federally sponsored basic research critical to U.S.

The purpose of this document, the Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis (referred to throughout this document as the EJ Technical Guidance), is to outline particular technical approaches and methods to help Agency analysts (including economists, risk assessors, and others) analyze potential EJ concerns for regulatory actions.4 Senior EPA managers will also find this document useful for understanding analytic expectations and ensuring that potential EJ concerns are appropriately considered and addressed in the development of regulatory actions.

As a result of the 2007 ruling by the U.S. District Court of Northern California that the DOE must prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate alternatives for cleanup of Area IV of the SSFL, DOE has implemented major changes in its management of SSFL Area IV. As an initial step, this community involvement plan (CIP) outlines a series of activities and programs that intend to engage the public, establish transparency in DOE actions and decisions, and increase input from the community.

The FAO Governance of Tenure Technical Guides are part of FAO’s initiative to help develop capacities to improve tenure governance and thereby assist countries in applying the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. The FAO Governance of Tenure Technical Guides are prepared by technical specialists and can be used by a range of actors.

This first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard, or the Phase One Scorecard, presents a baseline assessment of actions taken by federal agencies in 2021 and 2022 to help achieve the Biden-Harris Administration's environmental justice goals.

The Phase One Scorecard reports on the progress of 24 federal agencies in the following areas:

The WHEJAC Workgroups were established to develop draft recommendations to assist the WHEJAC in providing independent advice and recommendations to the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and to the White House Interagency Council on Environmental Justice (Interagency Council) on how to increase the Federal Government’s efforts to address current and historic environmental injustice.

The Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) established the NEPA Committee in 2012 pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898 (2011).

Studies indicate that the energy burden — energy costs as a percentage of annual family income — on low-income families is inordinately high, compared to that of the rest of the population. Rising fuel costs exacerbate this problem. Residential solar energy systems can help address this situation by furnishing a price-stable energy source with the added benefit of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, without appropriate incentives, these systems are prohibitively expensive for low-income families.

Introduction

A. The Biden-Harris Administration’s Commitment to Environmental Justice 

The purpose of this report is to equip the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) with evidence-based recommendations to further equity and environmental justice (EJ) efforts within their capacity as the state’s environmental regulatory agency, in service of advancing EJ for those who live, work, and play in Washington. This report is intended to share promising trends and tools, acknowledge common barriers and ideas for overcoming those barriers, elevate successes, and amplify equitable practices for defining, measuring, mobilizing, and sustaining meaningful EJ work.

In response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14008 and Administrator Regan’s directive to “strengthen enforcement of violations of cornerstone environmental statutes and civil rights laws in communities overburdened by pollution,” OECA issued four policies.1 These policies provide direction to the civil regulatory, compliance assurance, criminal, and cleanup enforcement programs to incorporate environmental justice (EJ) considerations throughout the enforcement process. The key elements of these strategies and preliminary successes are described below.

The U.S. nuclear waste management program has labored for decades at a cost of billions of dollars each year, and yet there is still no active disposal program either for spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors or for the high-level radioactive legacy waste and spent nuclear fuel from defense programs.

Understanding sense of place and related concepts often presents challenges for both managers and researchers. Inconsistent application of terms, questions regarding their origin, and a lack of awareness of research findings contribute to the ambiguity of these concepts. This integrative review of research provides relevant, current information on the role of sense of place in natural-resource based recreation and tourism.