Research

This white paper was prepared in partnership with the Tishman Environment and Design Center and Center for the Urban Environment of the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University, and the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance.

Current climate mitigation policies for the power sector are increasingly focused on technological approaches to “manage” carbon emissions, two prime examples being the deployment of technological carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS) and the burning of hydrogen-blended natural gas fuel. As much of the nation’s energy infrastructure is located in low-wealth communities and Communities of Color, these carbon management approaches can have serious environmental justice implications. Yet there has been an absence of consideration of environmental justice in programs and policies that promote CCS and hydrogen deployment in the power sector.

The following paper provides a summary of evidence demonstrating the threats posed by CCS and hydrogen co-firing to environmental justice communities in the United States. In synthesizing the best available data on equity, public health, and environmental risks, we find that the potential harm to communities already burdened by pollution warrants reconsideration of our investments and policies to promote carbon management. This caution is further underscored by the poor track record and questionable mitigation potential of these technologies.

We consequently find that reliance on these technologies could precipitate a double injustice, both because of their direct impacts on already overburdened communities and because those communities are most vulnerable to the climate disasters that will ensue if we fail to implement climate mitigation grounded in proven renewable energy, regenerative, and just transition approaches.