A new guide released by Worley Consulting highlights the critical role of community engagement in achieving net zero targets, as infrastructure projects face mounting opposition worldwide.
The report, A guide to sharing value and building trust with communities to achieve net zero, highlights the need for a paradigm shift in project delivery to address growing community resistance.
Dr Mary Lou Lauria, Senior Vice President of Global Environment & Sustainability at Worley Consulting, states in the foreword: “To achieve net zero targets by mid-century we need to think and act differently.
“Trust between stakeholders and a new paradigm of project delivery are critical.”
The guide points out that while massive amounts of new infrastructure are needed to reach net zero goals, community resistance is increasingly affecting developers’ abilities to deliver these projects.
In the United States alone, hundreds of renewable energy projects have encountered significant opposition from communities and Indigenous peoples, with local governments implementing bans or impediments to utility-scale solar plants in over 100 counties.
The report identifies several causes of community resistance, including perceptions of inadequate stakeholder engagement, inequitable distribution of project benefits, and insufficient management of environmental and social impacts.
Concerns about “green colonialism” and the disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups have also been raised by Indigenous leaders globally.
To address these challenges, the guide recommends that developers and operators go beyond regulatory requirements, emphasise transparency, and align with communities on equitable sharing of value and risks.
It also calls for governments to manage potential cumulative impacts through place-based approaches, such as master planning and multi-stakeholder environmental and social impact management programs.
The report stresses the importance of building trust and broadening the way value is defined and shared with communities.
It suggests actively involving communities in project outcomes through partnership options like equity ownership, cooperatives, and community trusts.
As the world races to achieve net zero targets, this guide serves as a timely reminder that the path forward must be travelled together with communities.
Building enduring social contracts may be challenging, but it is essential for the successful delivery of the infrastructure needed to combat climate change.
