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Jupiter Proposes More Dynamic, Prognostic Approach to Climate Impacts for U.S. Environmental Justice Tool
New data sets and transparent methodologies should be incorporated to empower disadvantaged communities to improve resilience to climate change
“A tool that incorporates climate change-related factors into social, physical, and economic sector variables to assess whether a community is disadvantaged, and disseminates easily-digestible data to public decision-makers, is essential.”—Rich Sorkin, CEO, Jupiter
Drawing on its recently launched global initiative aimed at improving underserved communities’ resilience to severe impacts from climate change, Jupiter has urged the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to improve prognostic capabilities and transparency in the Beta version of its Environmental Justice Screening Tool.
In its April 25, 2022, response to the CEQ’s Request for Information, Jupiter CEO and Co-Founder Rich Sorkin called the tool’s initial release a “solid attempt at identifying vulnerable communities according to social, financial, and economic variables and thresholds” including climate change.
Mr. Sorkin cited Jupiter Promise in advocating that the tool incorporate capabilities that help these communities “more accurately predict and assess projected climate change-induced perils and their impacts on critical infrastructure, [enabling them to] be better able to plan, prepare for, and adapt to these impacts.” He underscored Jupiter’s long-stated position that “the Federal government requires consideration of current and future-looking, rather than solely historic, [climate risk] data for any financial or physical asset it owns, subsidizes, regulates, or otherwise supports.”
He also called for greater transparency and clarity in the documentation of the methodologies used by the Beta version of the tool.
Mr. Sorkin concluded that, with such improvements, “the Screening Tool could move beyond a capability of identifying disadvantaged communities to a level that could identify the needs of a community and the benefits of programs aimed to address those community needs.”
Download Jupiter’s full response to the CEQ’s Request for Information below. And schedule a ClimateScore demo today.
