Environment, Equity & Justice Center
![An illustration depicts people raising their fists in protest, riding bicycles on a paved pathway, rowing a boat in a body of water, and protesting near oil rigs](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-02/nrdc-environment-equity-and-justice-center-2.jpg.jpg?h=42ab2369&itok=ZISTEWc-)
Alexandra Bowman for NRDC
More on Our Equity Work
NRDC seeks to foster a more just and sustainable future—a future driven by social change that improves people’s lives, with clean air, clean water, and healthy communities for all. Through our new Environment, Equity & Justice Center, we are pursuing an integrated approach to addressing persistent and connected threats of environmental inequality, racial injustice, and socioeconomic insecurity. Our work is rooted in partnerships with frontline groups to advance community-driven solutions, to help build power in communities most harmed by inequities, and to push for long-lasting change. Ultimately, we believe this approach will foster a stronger, more diverse environmental movement and a safer, more just world.
The center’s work hinges on three priorities:
- Capacity-Building: Enhance NRDC’s understanding of equity and justice, and support the organization’s work with frontline partners to deepen relationships with communities; provide legal, policy, and scientific assistance; and build community power.
- Partnerships: Advance community-driven solutions in partnership with frontline communities.
- Policy: Integrate equity into our policy work by collaborating with domestic and international partners to create policies that address environmental, economic, and social inequities—and help address both the environmental justice and climate crises.
Meet Our EEJC Team
Latest News & Commentary by Our EEJC Team
![View of the railroad tracks that would be used for the Gibbstown LNG Export Project, running alongside a residential neighborhood in Gibbstown, NJ.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-05/gibbstown-railroad-tracks-neighborhood.jpg.jpg?h=d318f057&itok=OFEDj28u)
Keeping LNG Off the Rails in Gibbstown and Across America
![An image of a prison cell. The bars are severely rusted. There is a combination sink-toilet fixture visible on the left side of the image and a cot on the right side, along with a small electric fan.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2024-03/Davis%20v%20Baldwin%20photo.jpg.jpg?h=603ec919&itok=ja9DS3mg)
Reports of Sickening Water Conditions at Pontiac, Illinois Prison
![A sign that reads 'Use your food stamps here and get more' on display near people shopping at a farmers market in New York City.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-12/snap-ebt-benefits-sign-corona-farmers-market-new-york-city-1772.jpg.jpg?h=44b879e5&itok=GYLHU5vO)
Progress and a Path Forward on SNAP Incentives in New York
![A worker holding several corroded and rusty water pipes removed from an apartment building during replacement copper piping installation.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-12/iStock-173006785_VL.jpg.jpg?h=d668167d&itok=2DMtEhCr)
Equal and Equitable Access to Lead Pipe Removal Needed in New Rule
![View of a school playground from the railroad tracks running through Gibbstown, NJ.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-05/Gibbstown%201_0.jpg.jpg?h=22c5c35f&itok=0CrZHs2m)
U.S. DOT Finally Suspends LNG-by-Rail Rule!
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-07/iStock-177527412.jpg.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=V95fm03S)
MFN Stands Firm: EPA Must Eliminate Toxic Air Pollution from Trucks
![A delegation from the Campaign for Healthier Solutions outside a Dollar General store after the annual shareholder meeting in Goodlettsville, TN.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-07/2023%20Dollar%20General%20shareholder%20meeting%20coalition.jpg.jpg?h=f7d9a45c&itok=0bQEQEZu)
Campaign Pushes Local Food & Safe Products at Dollar General
![Street flooding in Centreville, Illinois on July 27, 2022](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/teaser-july-27-flooding-73rd.png.jpg?h=ec041e41&itok=73D5IfVs)
The Disinvestment in Centreville Continues
![Construction workers break ground on a sewer project in a street closed to traffic.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-05/mount-vernon-third-street-construction_0.jpg.jpg?h=ae30fca9&itok=ifaQ-BbB)
New York Governments Collaborate to Tackle Environmental Injustice
![A prison cell containing a narrow bunk bed with an open toilet immediately next to it](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-05/illinois-prison-cell.png.jpg.jpg?h=3570e19a&itok=ackQtOYj)
Sentenced to Sickness: Dirty Water Persists in Vienna Prison
Latest Policy Resources by Our EEJC Team
![A view of the city skyline of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/cop27-sharm-el-sheikh-2122066502-2400.jpg.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=w91gWgFY)
NRDC Experts and Events at COP27
![Massive rounded tanks sit on a ship off of a dock next to a large industrial facility](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/nrdc_6v5a9137-2400.jpg.jpg?h=734c934c&itok=wdUK33rn)
Stop the Fortress LNG Export Project
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/nrdc_038_2400.jpg.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=sP-_hWi6)
Investigation Confirms Environmental Violations at Parchman Prison in Mississippi
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/tar-sands-blockade.jpg.jpg?h=ef875bdf&itok=MacyPYcJ)
Toxic Air Pollution in the Houston Ship Channel: Disparities Show Urgent Need for Environmental Justice
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/200216_nrdc_189c_2400.jpg.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=_O-OuOfe)
Connecting Communities and Science at American Geophysical Union 2020
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/joebiden_47f323a23e_2400.jpg.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=rM2dLEnL)
Translating Joe Biden's Climate Vision into Action
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/sparcc-6471692847_16c83ea1c3_o-trevor-holman.jpg.jpg?h=341a1f3b&itok=jbFYwJJ8)
Guide to Community Climate Vulnerability Assessments
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/atlanta-photo-1-more-cropped-1.jpg.jpg?h=9b076402&itok=D-NXS4LD)
Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC)
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/2023-03/squaremile-teaser.png.jpg?h=4943a703&itok=haW-7AJF)
The Sustainable Square Mile Handbook: Cultivate Your Green Village with Community-Based Principles and Practices
![](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_16x9_100/public/media-uploads/terry-evans-train-loaded-petcoke-10x6.jpg.jpg?h=560fc75e&itok=6gNEUKM2)