Updating COG’s Regional Environmental Justice Toolkit

Partner: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG)

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The Challenge

COG first released its Environmental Justice (EJ) Toolkit in 2017. Since then, the Washington metropolitan region has undergone major demographic, environmental, and policy changes—prompting the need for a full refresh.

COG sought to update the toolkit with clear, practical community-engagement recommendations that local governments could easily use, and that reflected the priorities of communities across Maryland, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia.

Equnival was engaged to ground the update in authentic community input, ensuring the revised toolkit accurately reflects how residents experience climate, energy, and air-quality challenges—and how they want to participate in shaping solutions.

Our Approach

Identifying Priority Communities

Using COG’s Equity Emphasis Areas (EEAs) tool, Equnival identified communities disproportionately affected by environmental and socioeconomic burdens and selected leaders representing those areas.

In Spring 2025, Equnival led a regionwide engagement effort to lift up the perspectives of environmental justice leaders and community-based organizations (CBOs). Our process included three components:

Conducting Multi-Format Engagement

To gather a broad and representative set of insights, Equnival engaged 44 community leaders through:

  • One-on-one interviews across Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia

  • Participation in community outreach events

  • Interviews with members of COG’s Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee (ACPAC)

  • Facilitation of two ACPAC community listening sessions

These conversations explored how governments currently engage residents—and what practices would lead to stronger, more equitable collaboration.

Delivering Actionable Recommendations

Equnival synthesized insights from all interviews, discussions, and events into a detailed findings and recommendations report to guide COG’s 2025 Toolkit update.

The Outcome

Equnival’s report provided COG with a clear roadmap for strengthening community engagement across the region. These recommendations are now informing the 2025 revision of the Environmental Justice Toolkit, scheduled for release in early 2026.

The report’s Executive Summary is publicly available and highlights steps local governments can take to:

  • Engage communities earlier and more consistently

  • Build trust with historically underserved neighborhoods

  • Improve communication around climate, energy, and air-quality decisions

  • Support more meaningful participation from CBOs and residents

“Community voices must be at the center of environmental justice policy. This project ensured those voices directly shape regional guidance.”

What Made This Project Unique

Across all interviews and listening sessions, community leaders consistently identified three regionwide concerns:

  • Persistent air-quality issues and their health impacts

  • High and rising energy costs affecting household stability

  • Rapid growth of data centers, raising concerns about emissions, noise, and energy demand

Because these issues cross jurisdictional lines, COG is uniquely positioned to convene regional governments and communities to explore shared solutions.

Equnival will continue partnering with leaders from this effort to sustain dialogue and advance collective strategies.