Delivering Equitable and Meaningful Community Benefits via Clean Hydrogen Hubs

The report examines the integration of community benefits into the US DOE's Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program, emphasizing the shift from one-way notification to meaningful two-way engagement. It highlights the role of Community Benefits Plans (CBPs) and Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) in mitigating social opposition and ensuring that 40% of benefits flow to disadvantaged communities under the Justice40 Initiative. Through case studies of failed projects in Wisconsin and the Midwest, the document illustrates how a lack of transparency, misalignment with local visions, and insufficient engagement can lead to project cancellation or significant delays.

• The US Department of Energy (DOE) requires all recipients of funding from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) to implement a community benefits plan (CBP) to ensure shared prosperity, reduce risk, and build trust. These plans must include two-way community engagement, adherence to Justice40 requirements, and goals for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).
• There is a significant gap between traditional one-way community notification and the meaningful two-way engagement required by current federal funding opportunities. Traditional methods often involve one-sided presentations at times and locations that limit attendance, occurring after project designs are too advanced to be altered.
• The Justice40 Initiative mandates that 40% of overall benefits from certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities (DACs), but the DOE and White House have provided limited guidance on how to define or measure these 'overall benefits'.
• Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) are legally enforceable tools used to secure community buy-in, but they often fail if the signatories do not represent the whole community, if benefits are insufficient compared to developer subsidies, or if the agreements do not account for the sale of development rights.
• A case study of Nature Energy's proposed biogas facility in Roberts, Wisconsin, shows that despite two-way engagement efforts, the project was withdrawn in October 2022 after failing to secure buy-in from local residents and the Village’s Board of Trustees.
• Summit Carbon Solutions' proposed 2,000-mile CO2 pipeline across five Midwestern states has faced severe delays and permit denials in North Dakota and South Dakota due to concerns over public health, safety, and the potential use of eminent domain.

APA

Sheerazi, H., Westler, G., Gamage, C., McClellan, M., & Bukirwa, P. (2024). Delivering Equitable and Meaningful Community Benefits via Clean Hydrogen Hubs. RMI. https://rmi.org/resources/delivering-equitable-and-meaningful-community-benefits-via-clean-hydrogen-hubs/

Chicago

Sheerazi, Hadia, Gareth Westler, Chathurika Gamage, Moana McClellan, and Patience Bukirwa. Delivering Equitable and Meaningful Community Benefits via Clean Hydrogen Hubs. RMI, 2024. https://rmi.org/resources/delivering-equitable-and-meaningful-community-benefits-via-clean-hydrogen-hubs/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sheerazi |first1=Hadia |last2=Westler |first2=Gareth |last3=Gamage |first3=Chathurika |last4=McClellan |first4=Moana |last5=Bukirwa |first5=Patience |title=Delivering Equitable and Meaningful Community Benefits via Clean Hydrogen Hubs |publisher=RMI |date=29 January 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/delivering-equitable-and-meaningful-community-benefits-via-clean-hydrogen-hubs/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sheerazi2024delivering, author = {Sheerazi, Hadia and Westler, Gareth and Gamage, Chathurika and McClellan, Moana and Bukirwa, Patience}, title = {{Delivering Equitable and Meaningful Community Benefits via Clean Hydrogen Hubs}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/delivering-equitable-and-meaningful-community-benefits-via-clean-hydrogen-hubs/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }