HHS creates Office of Environmental Justice
The office will integrate environmental justice into HHS efforts to improve health in disadvantaged communities.
Photo: fotografixx/Getty Images
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced it is establishing an Office of Environmental Justice to help protect the health of disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations on the frontlines of pollution and other environmental health issues.
The new office will sit within the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, which HHS launched last year as part of President Joe Biden's Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.
The Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) will serve as the HHS-wide hub for environmental justice policy, programming and analysis. It will integrate environmental justice into the HHS mission to improve health in disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations; develop and implement an HHS-wide strategy on environmental justice and health; coordinate annual HHS environmental justice reports; provide HHS' Office of Civil Rights with environmental justice expertise to support compliance under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and promote training opportunities to build an environmental justice workforce.
The OEJ is seeking public comment by June 18 on a draft outline to further the development of the 2022 HHS Environmental Justice Strategy and Implementation Plan. The plan will identify priority actions and strategies to best address environmental injustices and health inequities for people of color and disadvantaged, vulnerable, low-income, marginalized and indigenous populations.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Hospitals and health systems are tackling environmental issues in an acknowledgement that climate change is linked to health and health equity.
Kaiser Permanente, which achieved carbon-neutral status in 2020, has an executive director for environmental stewardship. Other health systems have similar positions within their organizations to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by turning to renewable energy, waste and recycling and creating green spaces in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Deloitte, which works with hospitals on these efforts, said strategies include tracking and mitigation; resilience and adaptation; and new business model creation.
THE LARGER TREND
Since Biden took office, his environmental justice agenda has included implementing the Justice40 commitment to deliver 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities.
The federal government recently invited hospitals, health systems, suppliers, pharmaceutical companies and other industry stakeholders to submit pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase their climate resilience on a pledge form due by June 3. The voluntary pledge asks signees to, at a minimum, commit to reducing their organization's emissions by 50% by 2030, and to net zero by 2050, and publicly report their progress; completing an inventory of supply chain emissions; and developing climate resilience plans for their facilities and communities.
ON THE RECORD
"The blunt truth is that many communities across our nation – particularly low-income communities and communities of color – continue to bear the brunt of pollution from industrial development, poor land use decisions, transportation, and trade corridors," said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
"Health is closely connected to the environments where people spend the most time – neighborhoods, workplaces and outdoor spaces," said Admiral Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for Health. "Millions in the U.S. are at risk of poor health because they live, work, play, learn and grow in or near areas of excessive pollution and other environmental hazards."
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
