UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

In the face of climate change and ongoing environmental racism,1 the federal government and the State of California are engaged in parallel missions to invest in reducing environmental harms while uplifting pollution-burdened communities. At the federal level, the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative mandates that disadvantaged communities receive at least forty percent of the benefits of certain federal investments.2 Executive branch agencies are now working to meet Justice40 goals through their programs and investments. This work comes as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 have provided over $500 billion in funding for environment- and climate-related programs, providing an unprecedented opportunity to advance environmental justice.3 As the federal government works to ensure that benefits are more equitably distributed throughout the country, it can learn from many state-level strategies and actions— especially from California, which has made significant progress in focusing investments in disadvantaged communities over the past decade.4 Our client, the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC), administers the Transformative Climate Communities program (TCC), a competitive grant program that invests in climate, economic, and health benefits for communities facing environmental and economic burdens.5 SGC is working to help federal agencies achieve more equitable investment outcomes, in part by incorporating design features of TCC into climate equity investments throughout the country. To inform SGC’s federal engagement efforts, we explore how agencies with Justice40- covered programs can adopt SGC’s equity-focused practices for place-based, community-driven climate programs to achieve more just investment outcomes. We identify opportunities for SGC to support federal agencies’ Justice40 goals, highlighting where there is potential to incorporate TCC features. We use several methods to address our research question, including interviews with federal government officials and SGC staff; a survey of federal employees; and an analysis of department websites, strategic plans, and other materials concerning Justice40 and environmental justice efforts.