Environmental Injustice, from Evidence to Causal Mechanisms: How French Incinerators Get Sited Near Immigrant and Minoritized Communities

Environmental Justice studies provide consistent evidence of social inequalities in exposure to environmental risks. This paper documents how public sector decisions can perpetuate these inequalities. Focusing on waste incinerators located near minoritized communities in France, we identify factors that drive incinerator locations: the economic rationale of pairing incineration with public housing district heating, unexamined and biased claims about the modernity, safety, and social benefits of incineration, and political assumptions about social consent in “sacrifice zones” that disempower local opposition. When siting Locally Unwanted Land Uses, planners should pay particular attention to these typically implicit mechanisms.