It’s been more than two years since the creation of the Justice40 Initiative, which established the goal that 40 percent of federal climate and clean energy investment benefits flow to marginalized communities long overburdened by pollution. Building on decades of tireless environmental justice efforts, we now have a national network of innovative policies and technologies, unprecedented funding and technical assistance programs in place, and robust partnerships and collaborations emerging to transform infrastructure investments across these historically underserved communities.

State agencies sit at the crossroads of federal funding for communities — they administer and award federal formula funds, facilitate competitive grant applications, and coordinate stakeholder engagement and information sharing. During the spring and summer of 2023, Climate XChange, Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), and Beech Hill Research spoke with 16 state agency staff working on Justice40-covered programs across the country, to shed light on how states are navigating federal guidelines and identify barriers to reaching the communities Justice40 was designed to serve. Our goal was to understand the experiences of state agency staff and distill a snapshot of their work in their own words. 

Join experts from the core research team, including Kristen Soares, State Climate Policy Network Manager at Climate XChange, and Amanda Dwelley, Energy Research and Equity Advisor at Beech Hill Research, to dive into findings and recommendations on what is needed to meet the promise of Justice40, followed by an interactive discussion where participants can share their stories of success around getting climate funding to communities.