Social Sustainability

Racial Equity

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Definition

Racial equity is the condition in which a person's racial identity no longer determines their life outcomes — in health, wealth, education, safety, environment or opportunity. It is distinguished from formal equality (identical treatment) by its focus on outcomes and on remedying accumulated structural disadvantage, which often requires targeted, differentiated measures to be achieved.

References

Source organisationSupporting reference

This reference provides supporting context for how “Racial Equity” is defined and used.

www.epa.govBulk import source

Source imported for editorial provenance.

Overview

How it is used

The concept is applied in corporate DEI and human capital reporting, environmental justice screening tools (such as the US EJScreen), targeted investment programmes (Justice40), and grant-making and policy equity assessments.

Why it matters

Racial inequity determines who bears environmental harm and who benefits from environmental progress; sustainability that ignores it reproduces the injustices it claims to solve.