Durable carbon removal requires durable values 

For decades, strong, grassroots organizing by community, Indigenous, and academic leaders across the US highlighted the problems central to EJ. In 1994, the US government formally took action in response to this advocacy via President Clinton’s Executive Order (EO) 12898, which directed federal agencies to address the disproportionate public health and environmental burdens on frontline communities in the US. 

Now, more than 30 years later, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” which revokes President Clinton's longstanding policy directive and claims that EJ policies promote illegal and wrongfully preferential treatment. 

Despite these rollbacks, frontline communities continue to organize and advocate to protect themselves from disproportionate and inequitable pollution burdens. As the Trump administration rushes to repeal EOs, terminate federal staff, and revoke federal funding for projects with justice or equity components, the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) industry should center the leadership of frontline communities and prioritize justice and equity from early-stage research through commercial deployment. 

Just and equitable CDR promotes successful projects in the long term

The CDR field sits at a pivotal juncture. Many communities in the US are still in the early stages of learning about these technologies and understanding their potential social and environmental impacts. For CDR projects to succeed, developers must collaborate early and earnestly with communities to scope and actualize projects, well before finalizing technology design or selecting sites. 

Public support remains, even as federal policies shift

The current administration has repealed many EJ initiatives and drastically reconfigured the landscape for justice and equity within federal policy. However, justice and equity in the context of responsible technology commercialization and business development remain nonpartisan values. Focus groups and social science research consistently show that civil society sees site selection, community engagement, and transparency as essential to building and maintaining support for CDR projects at the community level. These values remain durable, even when policy support under presidential administrations does not. 

Loss of federal tools, but opportunity to lead

As CDR projects begin to arrive in neighborhoods across the US, the rollback of federal resources such as the EJSCREEN tool, the Department of Energy’s Community Benefit Plan template and guidance, and a suite of other technical assistance and community engagement grants, couldn't come at a worse time. Despite this challenge, the CDR industry, state and local governments, and community-based organizations have a mutual responsibility, and also a tremendous opportunity, to continue to engage and lead on equity and justice issues at the project level. As incentives for carbon management and manufacturing projects experience political friction, the need for the CDR industry, state and local governments, community-based organizations, and advocates to engage and cooperate is more important than ever. 

Leading on equity builds long-term advantage

Ultimately, CDR companies that are early and consistent leaders in robust community consultation, engagement, and benefit-sharing will be better positioned for success. Philanthropy has already helped accelerate responsible, community-centered CDR project development by convening developers with community-based organizations, surfacing the diverse perspectives of civil society, and evaluating the regional benefits these projects could provide. 

As CDR approaches commercial deployment, abandoning justice and equity, mirroring recent federal rollbacks, would almost certainly invite stronger and more targeted opposition. In contrast, companies that reinforce a commitment to equity through meaningful engagement and consultation, community benefit planning, workforce development, and collaborative project design can help accelerate a just transition to a decarbonized economy while building broad-based support for scaling. 

The CDR industry has rightfully emphasized the economic and labor opportunities these technologies could provide. However, the industry has placed less emphasis on how to equitably develop this workforce and equitably site these projects. Companies that integrate justice and equity into their operations and project development may secure an important advantage as communities begin to experience the tangible benefits of responsibly deployed CDR. 

Building durable public support for CDR and decarbonization

At Carbon Direct, we believe equitable, community-centered project development isn’t about checking a box. It’s about building durable relationships, trust, and legitimacy from the ground up. 

• Our Community Impacts team helps clients develop projects that are technically rigorous and socially credible, centering justice and equity from concept through operation and decommissioning.

• Our Policy team tracks the regulatory landscape to help our clients comply with and lead on community engagement, labor, and community impact expectations. 

• Our Science teams apply place-based social science methods to understand community context, identify potential risks, and uncover opportunities for shared value. 

Carbon Direct considers equitable project design a smart business strategy. Developers that lead with integrity and community trust are more likely to reduce risk, earn support, and stand out in a crowded and increasingly scrutinized industry.

A strategic path forward

The urgency of the climate crisis demands immediate and ambitious action. But ambition alone is insufficient. How we pursue climate solutions, including CDR, will define the social and environmental legacy we leave behind.

If the CDR industry fails to prioritize equity and justice, it risks repeating historical patterns of extractive development that have disproportionately burdened frontline and Indigenous communities. In contrast, by embedding justice and equity into project design from the very beginning, developers can advance a new model of climate intervention. A model that uplifts communities, shares benefits equitably, and helps repair the social fabric frayed by decades of environmental injustice.

At this pivotal moment, the industry should treat equity and justice as fundamental design principles and sources of strength, not as constraints. By collaborating with frontline communities and prioritizing procedural and distributive equity, the CDR sector can secure its social license to operate and catalyze a just transition to a decarbonized future.