US President Joe Biden signed an executive order April 21 that establishes a new White House Office of Environmental Justice tasked with ensuring that federal agencies help communities disproportionately exposed to environmental and health hazards.

White House officials said the order is intended to ensure all people, regardless of race, background or ZIP code, benefit from the safeguards of US environmental and civil rights laws.

"Under this order, environmental justice will become the responsibility of every single federal agency," Biden said at a signing ceremony in the White House rose garden on April 21. "Every federal agency must take into account environmental health impacts on communities and work to prevent those negative impacts."

In addition to establishing a new office, Biden's executive order directs agencies to identify and fill knowledge gaps related to environmental justice and to make that information accessible to the public. "There's a lot we still don't know about the quality of people's wastewater or the air they're breathing," Biden said. "There's a lot we still don't know about the cumulative impact of pollution on people."

The action requires agencies to warn nearby communities of toxic substance releases from federal facilities.

The White House also published its first "environmental justice scorecard," promised in 2022 to assess agencies' efforts to prioritize their spending on disadvantaged communities, including those overburdened by pollution. The Biden administration, through its "Justice40" initiative, has a goal to direct 40% of certain energy, infrastructure, climate change and workforce development spending to underserved areas.

Some federal agencies are taking their own initiative. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission moved early under the Biden administration to form the FERC Office of Public Participation and is conducting workshops on environmental justice and stakeholder involvement. And the US Environmental Protection Agency in September 2022 opened a new national office to provide technical assistance to stakeholders on environmental justice and civil rights issues.

S&P Global Commodity Insights produces content for distribution on S&P Capital IQ Pro.