Employees and Regulators Will Nudge More Firms to Focus on Environmental Justice

Companies, employees, and federal regulators will play a larger role over the next three years in encouraging organizations to focus on “environmental justice”—which means that no population or group bears a disproportionate share of negative environmental consequences from industrial or commercial operations or from the execution of laws, regulations, and governmental  policies.

Insight for What's Ahead: In 2022, only 50 companies in the Russell 3000 referred to environmental justice in their sustainability or ESG reports, according to The Conference Board data supplied by ESGAUGE. That is likely to change, as companies hoping to take advantage of the provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and/or the Inflation Reduction Act will need to take environmental justice into account, especially in the context of federal and state permitting of clean energy projects. Employees, whose livelihoods may be affected by the transition to renewable energy and who are already one of the primary drivers of companies' attention to social issues, can also be expected to increase their activism.