Community Benefits Programs & Clean Energy

The document outlines how community benefits programs—ranging from voluntary to mandatory agreements—can provide grants, workforce opportunities, and financial compensation to ensure a just clean energy transition and reduce community opposition to infrastructure projects.

• Community benefits programs are tools used by developers to mitigate project harms, enhance benefits, and address environmental inequities, ensuring disadvantaged communities are not further burdened by infrastructure. The document emphasizes that an early, inclusive, community-led process is essential for securing stronger community support.
• These programs vary across four primary dimensions: they can be voluntary or mandatory (such as New York's 2021 Host Community Benefit Program requiring electricity bill credits), binding or non-binding (with Community Benefits Agreements typically being contractual), direct or indirect (payments versus broad tax revenue), and monetary or non-monetary (financial compensation versus social/environmental benefits like air quality improvements).

APA

Clean Air Task Force (2023). Community Benefits Programs & Clean Energy. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/28141915/community-benefits-programs-fact-sheet.pdf?_gl=1*pmsqcf*_gcl_au*MTg1OTg1NzYwNy4xNjk1MDYxMTg4

Chicago

Clean Air Task Force. Community Benefits Programs & Clean Energy. 2023. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/28141915/community-benefits-programs-fact-sheet.pdf?_gl=1*pmsqcf*_gcl_au*MTg1OTg1NzYwNy4xNjk1MDYxMTg4.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Clean Air Task Force |title=Community Benefits Programs & Clean Energy |date=September 2023 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/28141915/community-benefits-programs-fact-sheet.pdf?_gl=1*pmsqcf*_gcl_au*MTg1OTg1NzYwNy4xNjk1MDYxMTg4 |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cleanairtaskforce2023community, author = {{Clean Air Task Force}}, title = {{Community Benefits Programs \& Clean Energy}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/28141915/community-benefits-programs-fact-sheet.pdf?_gl=1*pmsqcf*_gcl_au*MTg1OTg1NzYwNy4xNjk1MDYxMTg4}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }