The Decision Support Tool includes three interactive state maps with social and environmental data. These maps can help anyone review a carbon management project’s potential social and environmental impacts and identify development locations where a project would generate the fewest negative impacts and most positive outcomes.
How can the Decision Support Tool support equitable and responsible carbon management deployment?
As states work to achieve their climate goals, carbon management technologies, like carbon capture and storage and direct air capture, can help states remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from its industrial and power emissions, as well as the atmosphere. These technologies are useful strategies for addressing climate change, but they should be planned and used thoughtfully and with support from local communities.
This tool can help inform discussions on carbon management by giving everyone equal access to data that can be used to inform siting a potential project. The tool considers key social factors indicating the vulnerability of communities, as well as environmental regulatory and legal constraints to project deployment.
The Decision Support Tool does not grant approval for project development. The tool’s purpose is to inform meaningful discussions by providing the same data to all stakeholders that could be involved in carbon management project to ensure community input is heard and valued, and that projects are thoughtfully located.
Currently, the tool is available for Louisiana and Colorado, with additional states to come.
How did the Great Plains Institute develop this tool?
The Great Plains Institute worked with local partners to bring together stakeholders who represented diverse local perspectives. Together, project partners led community members in exercises that allowed them to prioritize the weight of various social factors and provide key feedback on what additional social and environmental data to add to the tool.
The final version of the tool, crafted with this valuable community feedback in mind, displays data from dozens of indicators in a social factors map, environmental factors map and a comprehensive map. The comprehensive map combines data from the social and environmental map together. The team at Great Plains Institute continues to request and accept feedback from users to continuously streamline and improve the tool.
Louisiana Tool
Louisiana-specific outreach was an important part of developing the Decision Support Tool. With the support of Louisiana-based facilitation experts at Franklin & Associates, the Great Plains Institute hosted a series of community roundtables across the state to ensure community input guided the development of the support tool. GPI hosted four roundtable discussions in Baton Rouge, Kenner, Alexandria, and Sulphur that provided an inclusive platform for diverse community voices. These conversations focused on gathering user input on the tool’s social data and usability. Participant feedback helped GPI make the tool more reflective of community values. For more information on the outreach process, read our two-page factsheet, or an in-depth report from our partners at Carbon Solutions.
Colorado Tool
Colorado-specific outreach was an important part of developing the Decision Support Tool. In May 2024, with the support of local facilitation experts at Keystone, the Great Plains Institute hosted five community roundtables in Grand Junction, Pueblo, Durango, Commerce City, and Greeley to ensure that local input shaped the tool. These meetings provided an inclusive platform for diverse community voices, focusing on user input regarding the tool’s usability and social data. Keystone facilitated discussions that highlighted the values and concerns of stakeholders in each region. This feedback helped GPI refine the tool to better reflect community priorities. For more information on the outreach process, read the Get Involved section of the Colorado Decision Support Tool.
Join us in shaping the future of carbon management outreach with your valuable input!
As GPI plans to expand the Decision Support Tool to other states, we actively welcome feedback. Carbon management projects are continually proposed throughout the country, and there are numerous opportunities for community involvement with this tool. Individuals are encouraged to share the tool and other resources related to carbon management widely within their communities. If anyone is interested in getting involved, GPI encourages them to provide feedback on the tool’s design and functionality by reaching out directly or completing a brief online survey (Louisiana Tool survey, Colorado Tool survey).