Green Hydrogen Transition Justice Analysis

The key justice concepts of decolonising business and mobility justice can be applied to analyse the sustainability challenge of transitioning to green hydrogen.

Decolonising business is a justice framework that aims to encourage the fundamental shift away from colonial structures (Asadullah, 2021) by addressing the historical and present exploitation of resources, marginalised communities, and labour in regions that were previously colonised by more affluent nations (Cunneen et al., 2017). The transition to green hydrogen requires rare earth elements and other minerals to convert water into green hydrogen. Materials such as platinum and lanthanum, for example, are crucial for the production and efficiency of electrolysers and fuel cells (Greenwald et al.). Although, many of these resources are extracted from countries that have been historically exploited (Lloyd and Wang, 2024). 80% of extracted platinum group metals are contained in South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex, where multinational mining companies rely on a huge African migrant labour force, low wages, and poor working and living conditions to bolster its profits (Mnwana, 2015). This raises concern about the social and environmental impacts on these communities as plans to “decarbonise” energy and transport systems will require substantial amounts of raw materials, whose extraction and processing are themselves carbon intensive, environmentally destructive, and socially damaging (Andreucci et al.).

Installation of industrial-scale green hydrogen infrastructure is still a product of intensive extraction of raw materials from mineral-rich regions, which in turn results in repeating patterns of colonialism (Andreucci et al.). We are not simply replacing a pattern of colonialism in resource extraction, but maintaining it if resource-sharing agreements are not established and adhered to. Moreover, given the lengthy predicted timeline of a full transition to green-hydrogen, Roy & Schaffartzik identify the potential dangers of prolonged conflicts over the extraction and processing of both fossil fuels and transition minerals for decades to come. Overall, successfully decolonising business involves a fair and inclusive approach to the production of green hydrogen. Countries rich in natural resources should be granted sovereignty over their mineral reserves so they can access their fair share of the economic benefits.

The mobility justice framework is also relevant, analysing how transport systems, movements, and access affect social and environmental dimensions. It refers to the idea that all im/mobilities are always heavily influenced by power relations (Sheller, 2018), contributing to unfair access to mobility for individuals because of socio-economic background, location, or demographic factors (OECD). There is growing optimism for green hydrogen to become a major fuel source for industries crucial to connectivity and mobility, such as aviation, vehicles, and shipping (Yusaf et al.). Sovacool et al. argue that green hydrogen transportation can reinforce elements of distributive injustice for being accessible only to the wealthy, since nations of the global north are better able to adapt to changing energy resources. For example, building and running hydrogen-based public transportation systems could be expensive and only viable for economies with advanced automative manufacturing resources (Yue et al.), leaving marginalised communities unable to benefit despite being exploited for their natural resources to support the transition to green hydrogen in the first place. Furthermore, there is a risk of exclusion of regions whose economies rely on fossil-fuel extraction as preferences swerve towards more environmentally friendly energy sources, resulting in the needs of immobile mining communities being completely disregarded and excluded from green mobility advancements.

In conclusion, these frameworks provide valuable insights into the social and ethical challenges of transitioning to green hydrogen, stressing the influence of global power dynamics and the effects on communities that have been historically marginalized or excluded.

Reference List:

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Asadullah, Muhammad. “Decolonization and Restorative Justice: A Proposed Theoretical Framework.” Decolonization of Criminology and Justice, vol. 3, no. 1, 5 May 2021, pp. 27–62, https://doi.org/10.24135/dcj.v3i1.25.

Cunneen, Chris, et al. “Fracturing the Colonial Paradigm: Indigenous Epistemologies and Methodologies.” Méthod(E)S: African Review of Social Sciences Methodology, vol. 2, no. 1-2, 2 July 2017, pp. 62–78, https://doi.org/10.1080/23754745.2017.1354548. Accessed 27 May 2020.

Greenwald, Julia E, et al. “Critical Mineral Demands May Limit Scaling of Green Hydrogen Production.” Frontiers in Geochemistry, vol. 1, 16 Jan. 2024, https://doi.org/10.3389/fgeoc.2023.1328384. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

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Roy, Brototi, and Anke Schaffartzik. “Talk Renewables, Walk Coal: The Paradox of India’s Energy Transition.” Ecological Economics, vol. 180, 1 Feb. 2021, p. 106871, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800920303232, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106871. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

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