Our key takeaway: How are people and communities relevant in renewable energy infrastructure projects? They are critical to these investments says the World Economic Forum (WEF). Companies must integrate community engagement throughout the full lifecycle of projects - its design, development, operation and closure. This is critical to ensure a fast and just transition, which provides shared value to people, planet, and businesses. What can companies do to ensure that they conduct meaningful community engagement? The white paper provides three key building blocks: (1) Understand and respect the local context - including by listening to diverse perspectives from impacted groups and their representatives; (2) Engage early, continuously, meaningfully and transparently” throughout the full lifecycle of the project; and (3) Define a clear plan focused on delivering shared value for both the people and communities impacted by the clean energy project, and the businesses implementing these projects. Working with other stakeholders, such as community and philanthropic groups, policy-makers, and civil society groups, is also key to this engagement.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) published a white paper ‘Using a People-positive Approach to Accelerate the Scale-up of Clean Power: A C-Suite Guide for Community Engagement’ (December 2023):
- The green energy transition must place people and community engagement at the centre: The white paper states that companies have a key role to play in the just transition, which “requires a massive buildout of clean power infrastructure, with total investment estimated at $4.5 trillion by 2030.” This transition must consider and centre people, which is important “to achieve an accelerated transition, but also to ensure these investments deliver broader social, economic and environmental value.” Failure to do so could mean “businesses risk losing their social licence to operate and eroding business value.”
- The building blocks of successful community engagement: The white paper outlines the three building blocks of successfully engaging with people and communities: (1) “Understand and respect the local context.” More specifically, “[l]istening to diverse perspectives from impacted groups and their representatives is essential for building an understanding of their local culture and communities’ world views, and for establishing trust”; (2) “Engage early, continuously, meaningfully and transparently” throughout the full lifecycle of the project. For instance, companies can develop engagement plans applicable to “all stakeholders, including people directly impacted, traditionally underserved and excluded.” Companies should also offer a variety of engagement methods and channels, as well as establish “an inclusive and transparent framework to collect and evaluate input, make decisions and share feedback”; and (3) “Define a clear plan focused on delivering shared value” for both the people and communities impacted by the clean energy project, and the businesses implementing such projects. This includes minimising the externalities of infrastructure projects; sharing benefits with communities through, for example, community benefits agreements; and being transparent about the distribution of benefits.
- What can companies do?: The white paper states that companies can (1) “Prioritize system value impact within the business strategy.” In practice, this means that “all business areas within the organization need to be aligned and working towards a common goal, based on clearly defined company policies and procedures”; (2) “Leverage cross-sectoral collaboration to move towards a partnership approach with communities.” More specifically, collaboration between companies, governments, philanthropy and other civil society groups is necessary to “kick-start discussions that may evolve into mutually beneficial, long-term strategic partnerships with communities”; (3) “Work with other industry leaders to develop a framework for measuring people-positive impact.” For instance, companies should “work closely with the broader ecosystem - including policy-makers, civil society, and philanthropic and community groups – to agree on a common definition of ‘people-positive’”, and develop “a framework to measure and validate the impact of clean power infrastructure on people.”
