This article explores the variation in benefits payment arrangements in renewable energy projects, based on three case studies in the UK. The analysis includes a typology of community benefits arrangements to illustrate the spectrum of potential arrangements and the key differences with respect to power dynamics, motivations, institutional frameworks, and the basis for calculating benefits.  

This resource provides detailed guidance on how to design the fiscal components of community benefit agreements – also known as an impact benefit agreement – to ensure the fair distribution of project revenue for the community. With a focus on natural resource development projects, the guidebook summarizes the negotiation process, presents a list of common benefit provisions, and finally describes common revenue-generating tools used in agreements and criteria for evaluating the advantages and drawbacks of each. 

This report presents a set of 35 recommendations for negotiating and drafting CBAs for climate infrastructure and related projects. A subset of the best practices are tailored to host communities that are negotiating CBAs. The report also includes a list of recommended key terms to include in the agreements.   

This resource presents a summary of current CBAs with details about the negotiated benefits of each. The benefits include affordable housing allocations, housing assistance funds, dedicated space for community amenities such as childcare facilities, community centers, youth centers, or job training centers, and financial contributions to local arts, culture, and youth initiatives. 

This primer provides practical information for implementing contract-based value capture (VC) techniques—including community benefits agreements. In addition to introducing these approaches, the primer explains the implementation processes and offers real-world examples of how they’ve been applied. For CBAs, it includes a representative list of community benefits that have been included in past agreements and outlines important features for consideration when choosing and defining included benefits. 

This memo offers lessons for how CBAs and PLAs can be crafted to deliver strong and meaningful benefits for communities and workers for Direct Air Capture facilities and other climate infrastructure projects. It describes the types of benefits that can be included in these agreements, presents data on voter preferences around these benefits, and highlights best practices and recommendations from a set of case studies.