Intersectional environmental justice: a review of empirical research

Increasingly, environmental theorists are trying to better understand how interlocking axes of social difference render certain individuals and communities subject to inequalities. The aim of this topical review is to identify key insights into how scholars are responding to such questions in their approaches to environmental justice research. We included English-language peer-reviewed research published between 2015 through 2024 that applied empirical methods including quantitative, spatial, and qualitative approaches that engaged intersectional theory in their environmental justice scholarship ( n = 42). We document a mix of topical foci and methodological approaches and highlight novel ways that scholars are operationalizing intersectionality in their work. Based on these empirical advances we identify two key contributions: (1) an enhanced articulation of the intersectional dimensions of experiences of environmental injustice and access to environmental amenities and (2) an increased focus on informing social action and opportunities for systemic transformation. We conclude by suggesting future research directions to further develop a more critical body of environmental research that systematically explores linkages among systems of power, intersectionality theory, and environmental injustice. Doing so will enable scholars to simultaneously make visible and to contest the ways environmental inequities are unevenly distributed. Such efforts have the potential to advance research beyond an analysis of harm into what redress for oppression could look like.