What are the emerging contours of regional decarbonization? Insights from an exploratory analysis of US clean hydrogen hubs

• US clean hydrogen hubs reveal diverse strategies for industrial decarbonization. • Federal policies shape hydrogen hubs while prioritizing equity and regional diversity. • Fossil fuel incumbents evolve as central players in hydrogen value chains. • Multi-scalar coalitions redefine governance in clean hydrogen energy transitions. • Hydrogen hubs offer insights into global energy transition dynamics and regional adaptation. Decarbonization is a critical challenge for reaching climate goals, especially for hard-to-abate manufacturing, heavy transport, and power generation sectors. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has promoted hydrogen as a key solution, exemplified by an $8 billion Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub Program (H2H) launched in 2022. We use an analytical framework inspired by recent work in economic geography to evaluate emerging space-making processes in the 22 H2H “finalists” by focusing on processes and relationships in value chains, regional formations, and agentic features. The results illustrate two main findings. First, the state’s role in (re)shaping regions and regional energy transitions reinforces existing regional diversity variation in industrial and resource geography, while imposing new social and community conditions to secure federal funding. Second, the competition has stimulated the growth and connection between new, multi-scalar actors, including novel lead organizations, bipartisan political supporters, and a continued role for oil and gas incumbents. Decarbonization efforts offer new sites for accumulation and incumbents and provide templates for inserting social justice dimensions. Looking to the future, we see the US Clean H2Hubs Program as a site for testing claims in regional-economic geography and comparative cases with hub- or cluster-based hydrogen initiatives in East Asia, the Gulf States, and Europe.