JOINT BENEFITS AUTHORITY: Integrated Public Investments for Livable Cities

The Joint Benefits Authority (JBA) is a framework for municipal governments to move away from siloed agency funding toward integrated capital planning. By creating an independent entity for collaboration, the JBA allows multiple city departments to pool resources, issue bonds, and leverage new investments to scale natural infrastructure. This approach aims to quantify undervalued co-benefits, such as reduced heat island effects and improved mental wellbeing, while advancing social equity by integrating community leadership directly into the project team for decision-making and long-term stewardship.

• The JBA addresses the inefficiency of 'business-as-usual' municipal approaches where individual agencies issue separate bonds for departmental missions, which often hinders the execution of joint projects.
• The JBA framework enables the scaling of natural infrastructure to provide a range of primary and ancillary benefits, including flood resilience, cleaner air and water, reduction of the heat island effect, and improved physical and mental wellbeing.
• The JBA streamlines project delivery by establishing a single project team to eliminate duplicative costs associated with planning, design, implementation, and monitoring.
• The JBA utilizes a cooperative financing mechanism where city departments grant the authority to issue bonds, which helps attract grants and other state and federal funding through strong community buy-in.
• To advance social equity, the JBA moves beyond traditional public feedback by including residents, businesses, and community leadership as active members of the project team involved in decision-making and stewardship.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). JOINT BENEFITS AUTHORITY: Integrated Public Investments for Livable Cities. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/joint-benefits-authority.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. JOINT BENEFITS AUTHORITY: Integrated Public Investments for Livable Cities. n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/joint-benefits-authority.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=JOINT BENEFITS AUTHORITY: Integrated Public Investments for Livable Cities |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/joint-benefits-authority.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendjoint, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{JOINT BENEFITS AUTHORITY: Integrated Public Investments for Livable Cities}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/joint-benefits-authority.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }