Urban European Environmental Justice: Procedural vs Distributive

Anyi Li

Procedural justice focuses on whether the process by which environmental benefits/harms are distributed and accessed by different people and communities is fair. Procedural justice has the intention that such a resolution would benefit or harm all groups and communities equally. This may include recognizing exclusion and biases and removing such factors to facilitate all groups’ fair access to potential environmental benefits and harms. An example of environmental procedural justice in Europe is the Aarhus Convention of 1998. This convention aims to encourage meaningful and influential public participation in environmental decision-making. For instance, Article 6 states that “The public participation procedures shall include reasonable time-frames for the different phases, allowing sufficient time for informing the public in accordance with paragraph 2 above and for the public to prepare and participate effectively during the environmental decision-making” (Article 6). It recognizes that the public doesn’t always have access to what, when, or where decisions are made and thus cannot meaningfully participate or influence through participation. The sufficient time clause allows the public to have a fairer ability to have a voice in deciding environmental policies.

Distributive justice focuses on whether the outcome of resolutions and policies are fair to every group and community. If every group and community receives equal access to environmental benefits and harms, the distribution is just. If not, then the distribution is unjust. An example from Europe is the French leading industrial region. According to the article “Environmental justice in a French industrial region: are polluting industrial facilities equally distributed?” “[n]oxious facilities are disproportionately located in higher foreign-born communities …” (Viel, Jean-François, et al). This shows that the distribution of pollution is unjust to communities of high foreign-born people. Thus, it is a distributive injustice. 

When we imagine an environmentally just urban Europe, we need to consider both procedural justice and distributive justice. Even though the process may seem fair on paper, it doesn’t mean the outcome of the process will be fair. Therefore, it is essential to understand the objective in decision-making.

Bibliography:

Article 6. “Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.” Aarhus Convention, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
Viel, Jean-François, et al. “Environmental justice in a French industrial region: are polluting industrial facilities equally distributed?” PubMed.gov, 17 Jan. 2011. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21075035/.