Social Challenges of Green Hydrogen in the Global South

The production of Green Hydrogen (GH) with solar and wind power in Brazil is imminent. Onshore and offshore solar and wind farms demand vast terrestrial and maritime areas. Conflicts are likely with traditional activities sustaining food and territorial sovereignty of artisanal fishers and native peoples. The transition to renewable energy (RE) sources in the Global South must not make social groups more vulnerable or increase inequalities through land and resource dispossessions. GH production must achieve low-carbon pathways that protect the environment and value local populations following principles of social justice. Best practices are indicated for state, investors and communities to encourage the democratization of benefits and reduction of conflicts.

Decarbonization solutions needed to avoid a +2 degrees Celsius global warming target require significant investments in engineering technology, human capital, and behavior (Geels et al., 2017; Perlaviciute et al., 2021). Green hydrogen (GH), produced by electrolyzers from RE, is considered essential for decarbonization (Griffiths et al., 2021; IRENA, 2020; Oliveira et al., 2021; Capruso et al., 2022; Lebrouhi et al., 2022; Davis et al., 2018).                

However, achieving decarbonization with social justice is a major challenge (Mccauley et al., 2019; Sovacool et al., 2017; Sovacool et al., 2016; Sovacool, 2021; Carley & Konisky, 2020). How will we create a low or zero carbon energy systems while improving social indicators so that decarbonization is synergistic with improved social justice measures? Justice dimensions must be considered concomitantly with the development of technological solutions and, consequently, with economic, political and territorial implications.               

Despite numerous technical proposals for decarbonized energy systems (Davis et al., 2018; DeAngelo et al., 2021; Lowe & Drummond, 2022) and meeting scientific “grand challenges” (Veers et al., 2019), we are only beginning to prioritize decarbonization without causing new problems, and more poverty, inequality and concentration of political power (Sovacool et al., 2020; Bouzarovski 2022; Knuth et al., 2022; Kramarz et al., 2021; Fankhauser et al., 2022). Here we present a proposal for best practices for governments, entrepreneurs and host communities in the Global South to minimize the negative local impacts of GH and RE ventures.

Social Injustice and Decarbonization in the Global South

The implementation of wind and solar farms to feed GH factories demand vast terrestrial and maritime areas can cause conflicts with livelihood activities, especially in contexts of information and power asymmetries, land tenure insecurity, and deep historical legacies of injustices and structural weaknesses, which characterize many desirable locations for RE in the Global South. The global energy transition can lead to unfair processes of social exclusion, usurpation of community territories and natural resources, worsening inequalities and deepening socio-environmental vulnerabilities (Sovacool et al., 2021).               

“The dark side of renewable energy” refers to the negative socio-economic and environmental effects of RE through displacement, degradation, and dependence (Kramarz, Park, & Johnson, 2021). International efforts to promote RE are reinforcing the economic model that increases the vulnerabilities and inequalities of societies, especially in the Global South. National and international elites perpetuate the processes of dispossession of territories and resources, degrading the environment and causing widespread conflicts. This situation is effectively creating a "global division of decarbonization" between countries that benefit directly from RE (e.g., headquarters of multinationals and locations of priority consumers) and countries that are mostly harmed (e.g., areas that receive the direct impacts from the installation and operation of RE enterprises).  It is clear that “equity guardrails” in net-zero energy systems lack attentiveness to a “sense of solidarity, collective ownership and political buy-in” (Fankhauser et al., 2021, p. 18).

Prospects for Green Hydrogen Production in Brazil

 An emerging trend in Brazil is the potential conversion of RE into exportable GH, mainly to European destinations (Brannstrom & Gorayeb, 2022). Brazil attracted almost two dozen investments in the first half of 2021 and, in June 2022, the state of Ceará, a pioneer in the construction of wind farms in Brazil (Aquila et al. 2017; Juárez et al. 2014; Brannstrom et al. 2017), signed the first pre-contract in the country with an Australian multinational to carry out the production of GH. Forescue Futures is expected to produce 15 million tons of annual GH and generate of 2 GW of energy, with the start of production scheduled for 2030 (Diário do Nordeste, 2021). Fortescue Futures, a subsidiary of the Australian mining company, is expected to export GH to North America and Europe (Biogradlija, 2022; Diário do Nordeste, 2022).               

Notably, there are two contradictions in this process. One is that all of Ceará's GH proposals are located in the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex (CIPP in Portuguese) and in the Export Processing Zone (ZPE in Portuguese), where coal and natural gas thermoelectric plants create multiple ongoing conflicts over land tenure, water use and environmental pollution in nearby indigenous communities (Meireles et al., 2018; Neepes/ ENSP/ Fiocruz, 2019). Second, in 2021 Brazil was experiencing the biggest water crisis in the last ninety years, which directly impacted energy generation (in October 2021, about 57.4% of the national electricity generation was hydropower), demanding greater use of thermoelectric plants and making energy bills more expensive by about 10% (O Globo, 2021).

Best Practices for Promoting Social Justice in Green Hydrogen in the Global South

Energy justice (Sovacool et al., 2017) includes the interrelationships between energy and poverty, the links between energy, democracy and human rights, and the ethical dimensions of decarbonization or the “just transition” away from fossil fuels (Van de Graaf & Sovacool 2020).  Distributive justice refers to the distribution of harms and benefits among affected people, focusing on the location of energy injustices, such as the elimination of pollution and the location of wind turbines. Recognition justice is concerned with improving the recognition of people who may be harmed by the installation of energy projects. Procedural justice is based on recognition, emphasizing people's participation in decision-making processes. Cosmopolitan justice underpins all these forms of justice, calling for the universal application of these principles (Sovacool et al., 2017; McCauley et al., 2019).              

These justice concepts have informed our understandings of lived experiences among host communities near wind farms in Ceará state (Meireles et al., 2013; Gorayeb et al., 2016; Gorayeb & Brannstrom, 2016; Gorayeb et al., 2018; Araújo et al., 2020; Brannstrom et al., 2022). Based on our findings, Table 1 summarizes actions that government, businesses, and communities may take to encourage GH development in ways that reduce impacts on natural systems, guarantee access to land and resources, and contribute to social and economic improvements.  These best practices encourage firms to meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments (Ditlev-Simonsen, 2022) and may lead to a more pluralistic, democratic and fair low-carbon future. Previous work on GH governance (IRENA, 2020) emphasized state-focused policy making, but other scholars have warned that GH supply countries in the Global South could be exploited (Van de Graaf et al., 2020, p. 4) and that GH is not well aligned with sustainable development goals (Falcone et al., 2021). The construction of GH infrastructure “in a technocratic manner without knowledge about the societal effects of hydrogen as an energy carrier could otherwise result in long-lasting socio-ecological mismatches” (Hanusch & Schad, 2021, p. 82). 

 Table 1 : Best Practices to Meet the Social Challenges of Green Hydrogen in the Global South.

To implement these best practices, it is essential to train professionals in the Global South based on theoretical and practical knowledge that make it possible to create and sustain the institutional, political and governance aspects of decarbonization. Without investments in human capital, it will be difficult to achieve low carbon energy systems that promote social justice, social development and environmental integrity.

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Acknowledgements: The findings summarized here were supported by CAPES/ COOPBRASS Edital n. 5 de 2019, Proc. 88881.368924/2019-01 “Energia renovável e Descarbonização na América do Sul: desafios da Energia Eólica no Brasil e do Lítio na Argentina”; FUNCAP/ Edital n. 7 de 2021, PS1-0186-00295.01.00/21 “Desafios Sociais e Ambientais da Transição Energética no Ceará: implicações da produção do Hidrogênio Verde”; CAPES/PRINT Proc. 88887.312019/2018-00: Integrated socio-environmental technologies and methods for territorial sustainability: alternatives for local communities in the context of climate change.