In June 2022, the ECOS Environmental Justice (EJ) Workgroup welcomed New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to discuss the agency’s work creating a draft definition of disadvantaged communities using data-driven indicators. The meeting recording is available below:
In 2019, the New York State Legislature directed the Climate Justice Working Group, in consultation with DEC, to establish criteria to identify disadvantaged communities. After considering over 170 potential indicators, 45 were selected due to the availability of high-quality data and their relevance to EJ and climate justice. Selected draft indicators include environmental burdens and climate change risks, as well as population characteristics and health vulnerabilities. DEC uses a multi-step weighting process to compute a combined score for each census tract, allowing state agencies to target investments in the communities that need them most.
Thank you to Alanah Keddell-Tuckey of DEC for sharing her experiences and lessons learned with the ECOS EJ Workgroup.
