The transition to a more equitable energy system requires reimagining how communities interact with and benefit from energy infrastructure. To advance policy that centers on energy justice, communities must experience material benefits from the energy system and have decision-making authority over energy infrastructure. Benefits can include monetary payments, pollution remediation, infrastructure investment, jobs programs, and health improvements. Policy interventions that account for, track, and allocate meaningful community benefits are key to policy change.
Our community benefits research aims to provide partners with practical tools and knowledge, summarizing lessons learned from diverse community benefit approaches to inform more just and responsive energy policies.
This research examines the Department of Energy’s community benefit plan framework for nearly $100 billion in clean energy funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Through case studies with solar developers, labor unions, and community organizations, we document what worked, what didn’t, and lessons for future benefit policy design at all levels of government.
Key Findings
The Department of Energy required community benefit plans for $100 billion in clean energy funding. Only 8% of projects included formal agreements with communities or workers.
How DOE offices structured the process mattered. Some negotiated plans privately with applicants. Others built in phased funding with community checkpoints. These choices determined whether communities had actual leverage or just symbolic seats at the table.
Project type exposed the framework’s limits. CBPs brought new collaboration to renewable energy projects that communities wanted. For projects communities opposed, like hydrogen hubs expanding fossil fuel infrastructure, CBPs became a cover for harmful developments.
Additionally, enforcement mechanisms remained unclear even before the Trump administration froze implementation, raising questions about accountability without legally binding agreements.