Sustainability’s forgotten third E: what influences local government actions on social equity?

What differentiates communities that emphasise social equity in their sustainability policy? We use a 2015 survey of 1899 cities and counties across the United States and find only 26% of local governments report prioritising social equity. We use a distributional justice lens to create measures of social equity policy, and a procedural justice lens to assess processes for community engagement. We find that both distributive and procedural justice are important in local sustainable development. Our regression models find that plans and organisational capacity are important, but what differentiates municipalities that engage in more social equity policy is procedural justice – formal citizen engagement through a citizen task force and cross agency collaboration, as well as explicit links to economic development actors – notably, municipal ownership of utilities, and pressure from local businesses. A more engaged governance that incorporates the public, business, with cross-sectoral government agencies may mitigate the conflicts between three Es and help localities pursue a more balanced local sustainability agenda.