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Measuring corporate environmental justice performance

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  • Michael Ash
  • James K. Boyce

Abstract

Measures of corporate environmental justice performance can be a valuable tool in efforts to promote corporate social responsibility and to document systematic patterns of environmental injustice. This paper develops such a measure based on the extent to which toxic air emissions from industrial facilities disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities and those on low incomes. Applying the measure to 100 major corporate air polluters in the United States, we find wide variation in the extent of disproportional exposures. In 54 cases, minorities, who represent 31.8% of the US population, bear excess burden; in 15 of these cases, the minority share exceeds half of the total human health impacts from the firm's industrial air pollution. In 66 cases, poor people, who represent 12.8% of the US population, bear excess burden. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Ash & James K. Boyce, 2011. "Measuring corporate environmental justice performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 61-79, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:18:y:2011:i:2:p:61-79
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.238
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James K. Boyce, 2002. "The Political Economy of the Environment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2080.
    2. Douglas Anderton & Andy Anderson & John Oakes & Michael Fraser, 1994. "Environmental Equity: The Demographics of Dumping," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 31(2), pages 229-248, May.
    3. Rory Sullivan & Andy Gouldson, 2007. "Pollutant release and transfer registers: examining the value of government‐led reporting on corporate environmental performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(5), pages 263-273, December.
    4. Iulie Aslaksen & Terje Synnestvedt, 2003. "Ethical investment and the incentives for corporate environmental protection and social responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 212-223, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ash, Michael & Boyce, James K., 2016. "Assessing the jobs-environment relationship with matched data from US EEOC and US EPA," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2016-03, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    2. Davide, Di Fonzo & Alessandra, Fabri & Roberto, Pasetto, 2022. "Distributive justice in environmental health hazards from industrial contamination: A systematic review of national and near-national assessments of social inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    3. Roberto Pasetto & Benedetta Mattioli & Daniela Marsili, 2019. "Environmental Justice in Industrially Contaminated Sites. A Review of Scientific Evidence in the WHO European Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-20, March.
    4. Jayajit Chakraborty & Timothy W. Collins & Sara E. Grineski & Alejandra Maldonado, 2017. "Racial Differences in Perceptions of Air Pollution Health Risk: Does Environmental Exposure Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Ren, Xiaohang & Zeng, Gudian & Sun, Xianming, 2023. "The peer effect of digital transformation and corporate environmental performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. James Boyce & Manuel Pastor, 2013. "Clearing the air: incorporating air quality and environmental justice into climate policy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 801-814, October.
    7. Teun Wolters, 2022. "Why is ecological sustainability so difficult to achieve? An in‐context discussion of conceptual barriers," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 2025-2039, December.

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