Census tracts (boundaries from 2010) that are overburdened and underserved are highlighted as being disadvantaged on the map. Data was clipped to symbolize Kentucky only. Data accessed from the CEJST website July 26 2023. (Version 1.0 Nov 22, 2022).

In January of 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008. The order directed the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to develop a new tool. This tool is called the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. The tool has an interactive map and uses datasets that are indicators of burdens in eight categories: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, water and wastewater, and workforce development. The tool uses this information to identify communities that are experiencing these burdens. These are the communities that are disadvantaged because they are overburdened and underserved.

Federal agencies will use the tool to help identify disadvantaged communities that will benefit from programs included in the Justice40 Initiative. The Justice40 Initiative seeks to deliver 40% of the overall benefits of investments in climate, clean energy, and related areas to disadvantaged communities.

American Forests developed Tree Equity Score to address damaging environmental inequities in tree distribution common to cities and towns all across the U.S.

Tree Equity Score establishes an equity-first standard to guide investment in critical urban tree infrastructure, starting with neighborhoods with the greatest need. Score indicators utilized include population of children and seniors, linguistic isolation, health burden index, heat disparity, people in poverty, unemployment, people of color and canopy cover by U.S. census block.

The Tree Equity Score was created so that every person has the information they need to advocate for the health and resilience of their community.