DeCarb Camden: A Reparations Investor’s Collective Guide to Environmental Liberation and Restorative Justice

Abstract

The current climate crisis poses an impending risk to all of human life. For communities like Camden Waterfront South, these climate risks are far greater due to historical and current systemic inequities in the American economic system. This thesis raises the central question of how impact investing, a type of investment that prioritizes social change, can be used to restore wealth to Black communities while fortifying these communities against future climate change harms. Using the Camden Waterfront South community as a primary case study, I examine environmental degradation's intentional, disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, calling for reparative justice. I argue that in order to restore stolen wealth and protect vulnerable communities from future climate change harms, a collective shift must be made within the extractive American economy. I call for a reparations-centered investment framework that aligns with the “solidarity economy.” This thesis concludes with actionable recommendations that reparations-focused impact investors can take to invest with a justice-oriented lens.