Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Mapping climate inequities
Climate change | Inequality
January 12, 2024 – Many Black communities in the United States are disproportionately exposed to the impacts of climate change—a risk that can exacerbate already existing racial gaps. Consider New Orleans: according to senior partners Daniel Stephens and Shelley Stewart and colleagues, the potential for damage to the area from hurricanes could double by 2050, with formerly redlined neighborhoods among those likely to experience impacts. Redlining refers to a historic practice that began in the 1930s, when the federal government and banks engaged in systematic discriminatory lending practices targeting residents of urban areas with large concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities, drawing red lines around those neighborhoods. The socioeconomic effects are still felt today.
To read the interactive, see “Impacts of climate change on Black populations in the United States,” November 30, 2023.
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Visual form
Three-layer map.
Layout / body structure
The chart steps through three map layers of New Orleans, moving from climate-risk exposure to historic redlining and then to the combined overlay.
What is being compared
It compares neighborhood-level hurricane flood risk by 2050 with historic redlined districts in New Orleans and then shows how those two layers overlap.
Measurement system
The chart is map-based rather than axis-based, with spatial intensity and overlay serving as the main comparison system.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Layer 1 maps projected hurricane-damage risk, layer 2 maps the historic redlined districts, and layer 3 merges the two to show where climate exposure and discriminatory legacy geography coincide.
Main takeaway from the visual
The map makes the overlap visible: neighborhoods shaped by historic redlining are also among the areas facing elevated future hurricane flood risk.
Key standout values or extremes
The source description states that potential hurricane damage in New Orleans could double by 2050, and the combined third layer is the key extreme because it shows the spatial correlation between redlined districts and higher flood risk.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
The reader advances through three layers to see the climate-risk map alone, the redlining map alone, and then the merged overlay that links the two.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart is the full visual on this page.