and more about Environmental (In)Justice in your Everyday Life
By Siri Manneri
We all know about climate change at this point. Over time, I am sure all of us on campus have amassed a fairly comprehensive understanding of the climate crisis and sustainability efforts as a whole. Environmental justice, however, is nott necessarily as popularly discussed. Nevertheless, it is a central tenet in how climate change impacts the day-to-day lives of many of the most vulnerable in our society.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States, environmental justice can be defined as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” One major contemporary concern for environmental justice activists has to do with Artificial Intelligence data centers. The massive data centers of some of the biggest producers of generative AI require enormous amounts of water and land; much of which end up being taken from communities of color around where the data centers are built. As reported on by Axios, Black and Latino communities in the United States have suffered nitrogen dioxide pollution as a result of data centers, with new centers also potentially contributing to other issues such as rising energy costs and the depletion of clean water on an unprecedented scale.
Sciences Po Paris, in its corporate partnerships, has arguably also been tied to companies that have a history of violating environmental justice principles in different ways. Sciences Po has described its corporate partnerships as being “special structured relationships with many French and international companies,” with them describing their partners as having been “integrated into university life, serving on student selection committees, mentoring the beneficiaries of certain programmes, being invited to conferences and special events, and more.” Among the acknowledgements are big corporations like Carrefour, as well as Goldman Sachs and L’Oréal Paris. Carrefour is, for example, known for working with suppliers that have contributed to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, an issue that harms both the environment and the indigenous communities of Brazil. Carrefour has also been heavily criticized for ties to genocidal Israeli settlements, as well as slavery and sweatshops in Thailand and Bangladesh respectively.
Even though it may seem like environmental justice is then a far-away ideal in the face of many current issues, there are many actions us students can take in our daily lives to uphold these principles. We can actively choose to change our consumption and living habits. Whether it comes to limiting or abstaining from AI usage, or changing the brands you buy from and the stores you shop at: there are many micro-actions that can help students limit their contribution to environmental injustices all around us. Many of these choices also have other benefits: many second-hand or thrifted clothes/goods can be much cheaper than big brands and environmentally friendly grocery stores (Le Marche Bio in Le Havre, for instance) tend to be better quality. As individual students, we can also take part in collective actions that hold Sciences Po and other environmentally unjust institutions accountable. By organizing with groups on campus, and in your communities at home, we can all do our part to ensure a more environmentally just future.
Works Cited
Contreras, Russell. “AI boom fuels “environmental justice” fears in communities of color.” Axios.com, 08 December 2025, https://www.axios.com/2025/12/08/ai-civil-rights-black-latino-water-electricity.
Environmental Protection Agency. “Environmental Justice-related Terms as Defined Across the PSC agencies.” 2013, p. 16, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-02/documents/team-ej-lexicon.pdf.
Sciences Po Paris. “Our Corporate partners.” SciencesPo.fr, https://www.sciencespo.fr/nous-soutenir/en/companies/our-corporate-partners/.
20minutes. “Amazonie : Carrefour accusé de participer à la déforestation par le biais de ses fournisseurs.” 20minutes, 06 September 2022, https://www.20minutes.fr/planete/3346891-20220906-amazonie-carrefour-accuse-participer-deforestation-biais-fournisseurs.
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