Environmental Justice and Carbon Capture in Iceland: Resistance to Coda Terminal

Abstract

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are increasingly promoted as essential for mitigating global climate change. However, their implementation often lacks transparency and local engagement. This article explores community resistance to a proposed CCS project, Coda Terminal, in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland, focusing on issues of procedural justice and community consultation. The study draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between May 2024 and February 2025, including 13 in-depth interviews, participant observation at town hall meetings, and monitoring of a Facebook group used for grassroots mobilization. Interviews were thematically analyzed to identify patterns in how residents experienced the planning and consultation process. Findings indicate that local opposition was driven less by CCS technology itself than by widespread dissatisfaction with how the project was introduced and approved. Key concerns included lack of transparency, exclusion from decision-making processes, and perceptions of top-down governance. Grassroots mobilization, especially through social media, enabled residents to assert collective agency and demand democratic accountability. The Coda Terminal case highlights how procedural injustice can emerge even in affluent, democratic contexts when climate technologies are introduced without adequate public consultation. Resistance took the form of “refusal,” challenging the legitimacy of imposed decisions and reframing climate governance as a democratic concern. Technological legitimacy alone is insufficient for successful climate action. Climate interventions must also be democratically legitimate and procedurally just. CCS projects must be developed with transparent, inclusive, and participatory processes. The case underscores that procedural justice is not optional but foundational to the long-term viability of climate solutions.