Environmental Inequality in Germany – A Nation-wide Assessment of the Spatial Patterns Causing Environmental Inequality

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Henning Best
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 418939357

Environmental inequality research addresses the question of whether environmental pollution is unequally distributed across different groups of citizens. While a huge body of research has documented the disproportionate burden of minorities in the United States, only a handful of empirical studies have investigated the topic of environmental inequality in Germany, thereby relying on either spatially aggregated data or on subjective assessments of environmental pollution. This is a serious shortcoming that needs attention. Moreover, previous research in the United States yields quite inconclusive results regarding the driving forces of environmental inequality. Some studies emphasise selective migration processes, some studies rather highlight selective siting processes, and still others find that infrastructural characteristics play a major role in shaping the disproportionate burden of minorities. This is a second serious shortcoming, given the severe consequences of a persistently high exposure to hazardous environmental pollution. Thus, the main aim of this proposal is to close these gaps in the literature by combining household-level data and enhanced measures of industrial environmental pollution in Germany. Specifically, the goals of this project are (1) to assess the extent of environmental inequality in Germany by using household-level data (as opposed to spatially aggregated data) and objective measures of industrial air pollution and (2) to investigate the causal forces of environmental inequality using geocoded panel data. To achieve those goals, the project involves several sub-goals. First, we aim to develop an accurate estimate of the exposure to toxic pollution in Germany by applying enhanced geographical modelling strategies to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR). Second, we connect those exposure estimates to aggregated community characteristics as well as household-level data. This can help to identify the causal mechanisms but also to solve the puzzle of why results from individual-level and macro-level data yield different results. Third, the socio-demographic data should be further enriched by geographical data on urban forms and infrastructure. This seems especially relevant when developing strategies to reduce the disproportionate burden of minorities. Fourth, we need to investigate the data in a temporal perspective and, thus, use panel data and appropriate fixed-effects regression techniques. Research taking these aspects into account would advance the state of research in Germany, but also bolster the knowledge about causal forces in the general field of environmental inequality. Furthermore, by using similar methods as available in the USA, future research can conduct comparative research between the two countries. This should provide important insights on the role of structural condition in shaping environmental inequality.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants