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Abstract
Climate change presents a complex environmental health and justice challenge for the field of urban planning. To date, the majority of research focuses on measuring local climate efforts and evaluating the general efficacy of adopted climate action plans (CAPs). Cumulatively, these studies argue that socio-economic and demographic variables (such as the fiscal health of cities, city size, and median household income) are important factors in implementing climate policies. Less studied are issues of environmental justice and the impacts of climate change on population health. Through interviews with urban planners and a document analysis of CAPs, this study assesses how California cities with high levels of pollution and social vulnerability address climate change and public health. The findings of this study show that CAPs in these cities rarely analyse whether greenhouse gas reduction strategies will also yield health co-benefits, such as a reduction in the co-pollutants of climate change (i.e. ozone, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides). In many instances, the net co-benefits of health are not monetised, quantified, or even identified by local governments. In California's most impacted cities, climate planning activities and work on public health are happening in a parallel manner rather than through an integrated approach. The results suggest a need for increased opportunities for interagency coordination and staff training to conduct health analyses, free and easily accessible tools, methods for prioritising funding streams, and the development of partnerships with community-based organisations for linking climate planning with public health.
Notes
1 A CAP focuses primarily on reducing GHG emissions, including emissions resulting from both a local government's operations and the community as a whole. It typically includes an analysis/strategy to reduce GHG emissions resulting from land-use, energy use, transportation, solid waste disposal, buildings, lighting, and waste water treatment and water delivery (ICELI Citation2012).
2 For purposes of this study, “co-benefit” means an ancillary benefit of a GHG mitigation or adaptation policy that is produced in addition to the benefit targeted by the policy (Burtraw and Toma Citation2000, Li Citation2002, Pittel and Rubbelke Citation2008).
3 Processes such as fossil fuel burning concurrently emit GHG and other co-pollutants (i.e. PM and O3).
4 Environmental Justice is defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, colour, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Environmental justice can be achieved when all individuals enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work (US EPA Citation2012a).
5 Social vulnerability to climate change is often defined by the ability for a community to anticipate, cope, resist, and recover from the impact of extreme climate events such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves, bad air quality days, and infectious disease. As such, it is important to understand disparities in the costs and benefits of climate change, the abilities of different groups to adapt to it, and the mitigation and adaptation strategies developed to address it in order to better inform regulatory and policy action in the future (Shonkoff et al. Citation2009).
6 Cap-and-trade is a market-based mechanism that “caps” the amount of emissions a power plant or industrial polluter can produce and requires these facilities to purchase credits (the trade) from the state to exceed the emissions cap. These credits purchased and sold at established auctions enable facilities to continue to operate as they improve their equipment to reduce GHG emissions (CARB Citation2008).
7 AB 32 only encourages municipalities to reduce GHG emissions 15% below today's levels by 2020 (CARB Citation2008).
8 A MPO is a federally mandated and funded transportation policy-making organisation in the USA comprising representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorities (23 U.S.C. sections 134–135).
9 Health disparity is a type of difference in health that is closely linked with social or economic disadvantage. Health disparities negatively affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater social or economic obstacles to health. These obstacles stem from characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion such as race or ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, gender, mental health, sexual orientation, or geographic location. Other characteristics include cognitive, sensory, or physical disability (US Department of Health & Human Services Citation2009).
10 Cal EPA has a working definition of cumulative impacts adopted in 2005 as follows:
Cumulative impacts means exposures, public health or environmental effects from the combined emissions and discharges, in a geographic area, including environmental pollution from all sources, whether single or multi-media, routinely, accidentally, or otherwise released. Impacts will take into account sensitive populations and socioeconomic factors, where applicable and to the extent data are available.
11 While CalEnviroScreen is a peer-reviewed, science-based tool developed by government experts, it represents a culmination of more than seven years of collaboration with environmental justice groups and industry officials on the methods and indicators that were included in the final tool adopted by the state (Cal EPA Citation2014). In particular, the tool was significantly influenced by screening models initially developed jointly by environmental justice groups and university researchers (California Environmental Justice Alliance Citation2012).
12 The 20 percentile was selected for this study because Cal EPA (Citation2014) has indicated in draft guidance that this is the agency's preferred threshold to identify “disadvantaged communities”.
13 Under the California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209), approved by voters in 1996, state agencies are prohibited from using racial/ethnic preferences in governmental programmes and decisions. The CalEnviroScreen tool does not include “race/ethnicity” as an indicator because the tool will be used to distribute state grants to disadvantaged communities. However, a separate analysis by Cal EPA concludes that more than 35% and 28% of the state's Hispanic/Latino and African American populations, respectively, reside in communities ranked in the top 20th percentile of the state's environmentally burdened communities. By comparison, only 7% of the state's total White population lives in similarly burden communities (Cal EPA Citation2014).
14 Including plan updates and supplemental CAP documents, such as adaptation plans and public health assessments.
15 An open definition of environmental justice and social equity was adopted during the data collection process to identify CAP measures that explicitly addressed perceived social, economic, and environmental inequality.
16 This study also excludes Energy Action Plans and Sustainability Plans.
17 The participants interviewed remain actively involved in local climate action planning in California. To address the sensitive issues explored in the article, the interviewees were provided anonymity. The only information disclosed is whether the individual works in the public or private sector (i.e. public agency or private sector planner).
18 In analysing the results, this study acknowledges that the field of climate planning is a quickly evolving and highly iterative arena. As of writing of this article in the summer of 2014, additional public agencies may choose to initiate the CAP process or develop updates to existing plans as more resources become available.
19 Exposure to GHG emissions has human health impacts in concentrated form, such as their use in the workplace (Wisconsin Department of Health Services Citation2013). However, outdoor exposure levels are considered to be de minimis; GHG emissions dilute as they mix uniformly in the atmosphere (CARB Citation2008).
20 As previously noted, processes such as fossil fuel burning concurrently emit GHG and other co-pollutants that have localised health impacts. However, in California, GHG and co-pollutants (i.e. PM and O3) are generally mitigated through separate policy programmes.
21 As noted earlier, in California the vast majority of public health departments are delegated to county governments, not cities.
22 An exposure unit is an activity, group, region, or resource exposed to significant climatic variations (O'Brien et al. Citation2007).
23 Health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to “attain his or her full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or socially determined circumstances” (Braverman Citation2003, p. 181).
24 These cities are taking a concerted effort towards adaptation planning in acknowledging that, regardless of the degree of success in reducing GHG emissions, certain irreversible and significant impacts from climate change are already under way and will be inevitable (Few et al. Citation2007).
25 Founded as the ICLEI.
26 The California statute passed in 1970, shortly after the US federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to institute a statewide policy of environmental protection. CEQA requires state and local agencies to follow a protocol of analysis and public disclosure of environmental impacts of proposed projects and adopt all feasible measures to mitigate those impacts (California Department of Justice Citation2013).
27 As previously noted, the field of municipal climate planning is a quickly evolving and highly iterative arena. As more resources become available, additional public agencies may choose to develop CAPs or initiate updates to existing CAPs.
28 Disadvantaged communities are identified using the CalEnviroScreen tool.