Addressing Climate-Related Health Inequalities in Nashville

In the United States and globally, income is inversely correlated with carbon footprint, yet low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately burdened by the health and economic impacts of those carbon emissions, including impacts of climate change. In Nashville, low-income families are disproportionately burdened by poor access to healthy, affordable housing and energy poverty. These stressors contribute to heath disparities observed even within zip codes in our city. Carbon offsets are currently being used as a tool to finance initiatives that reduce carbon emissions, but many examples of available offset programs perpetuate the inequities in climate-related health and economic burdens.

Currently, there are few mechanisms in existence that effectively channel carbon offset dollars into initiatives that directly benefit low-income communities and those that have low carbon footprints related to their low incomes. Many existing carbon offset programs exploit communities and essentially result in 'greenwashing' in the corporate sector. Currently, there is not a program which combines carbon offsets with social credits so that these funds can directly benefit low income, low footprint communities.

Vanderbilt's Approach:

The Climate, Health, and Energy Equity Lab (CHEEL) combines the expertise of co-founders Carol Ziegler, professor of nursing and family nurse practitioner; Zdravka Tzankova, associate professor of the practice in Climate and Environmental Studies; and James Muchira, nurse researcher and assistant professor of nursing. Together with teams of students doing an Immersion project, they are designing prototypes with community partners to leverage carbon offset dollars with social impact, incentivizing companies to invest in initiatives that lower carbon emissions and promote economic, physical, and mental health for low-income families in Nashville.