The climate crisis necessitates rapid buildout of climate infrastructure to limit warming to 1.5 C, in line with global climate targets. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) made massive investments in the deployment and scaling of renewable energy infrastructure, carbon dioxide removal, and other climate priorities. The next step will be implementation — translating legislation and money into real projects and emissions reductions on the ground. 

All projects receiving IIJA and IRA funds from funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) require community benefits plans (CBPs), which establish the community and labor benefits project developers promise to embed within their project. Community benefits plan requirements specifically aim to incentivize projects that conduct meaningful community and labor engagement, provide high-quality and good-paying jobs, and advance President Biden’s Justice40 and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Community benefits agreements (CBAs) and project labor agreements (PLAs) can also offer a means for project developers to address historical injustices by engaging communities in a meaningful way. 

Development projects can face opposition from local communities due to a wide range of concerns. Apprehension around environmental impacts, property values, and lack of Tribal and community consultation have stalled and stopped new development projects across the country. Historically, development projects, like highways and industrial projects, have been disproportionately sited in low-income communities and communities of color, causing displacement, loss of property value, and adverse health and environmental impacts. In other instances, investment has been withheld from communities through discriminatory policies like redlining. 

Often, developers parachute into communities, working to complete their projects as quickly as possible and then leaving once a project is complete, with communities receiving few localized benefits. Community engagement — if any occurs at all — typically comes at the end of the planning process of a development project, after a site is chosen and a permit is in hand. To build out all the climate infrastructure necessary to limit warming to 1.5 C, while addressing historical injustice in infrastructure siting, active and authentic community engagement processes must be at the forefront. 

Data for Progress is developing a series of resources to guide successful and strong implementation of CBPs, CBAs, and PLAs on climate-related development projects. If done right, these agreements can help redress past environmental injustices while providing good-paying jobs to impacted communities and ensure the United States is on a path to rapid decarbonization. We offer best practices, policy recommendations, and polling to underpin a progressive approach to project agreements and community engagement to achieve net-zero emissions equitably.

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