CBAs
Local Interventions
Ensure That CBAs Are Legally Binding and Enforceable
Ensure that any commitments made as part of the process are legally binding and publicly disclosed. Binding commitments can be referenced as a necessary condition within the conditional use permitting process to give CBAs stronger enforcement potential (see Establish Conditional Use Permitting for Data Centers for more details). Establish continued tracking and enforcement mechanisms in […]
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Ensure that any commitments made as part of the process are legally binding and publicly disclosed.1 Binding commitments can be referenced as a necessary condition within the conditional use permitting process to give CBAs stronger enforcement potential (see Establish Conditional Use Permitting for Data Centers for more details). Establish continued tracking and enforcement mechanisms in the event that developers do not follow through on commitments to communities, with non-nominal penalties for violations.
- NAACP, “Frontline Framework Community Guiding Principles,” September 4, 2025, https://naacp.org/resources/frontline-framework-community-guiding-principles. ↩︎
Prohibit CBA Processes Without Metrics Attached to Full Community Participation and Outreach
Ensure that the community members who are most directly impacted by the effects of data center development (including air pollution or displacement) are the primary voices in negotiation. Establish and attach binding metrics to outreach and participation to ensure that all community members—not just those with existing connections to the government or developers—are able to […]
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Ensure that the community members who are most directly impacted by the effects of data center development (including air pollution or displacement) are the primary voices in negotiation.1 Establish and attach binding metrics to outreach and participation to ensure that all community members—not just those with existing connections to the government or developers—are able to meaningfully participate.
Note: Achieving meaningful community participation is challenging. Effective outreach must consider community members’ time availability, access to and comfort with technology, childcare needs, and varied modes of communication for different audiences.
- NAACP, “Frontline Framework Community Guiding Principles.” ↩︎
Enable Partial Ownership or Carried Shares of Profit Provisions
If requested from frontline communities, certify community stakeholders as partial owners in data center infrastructure. Establish measures to mitigate community risk and liability (such as free equity or no-interest loans). Note that this might only be possible if the CBA process involves stakeholders with well-established structures to receive or manage payments. Strong example The Morongo […]
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If requested from frontline communities, certify community stakeholders as partial owners in data center infrastructure. Establish measures to mitigate community risk and liability (such as free equity or no-interest loans).1
Note that this might only be possible if the CBA process involves stakeholders with well-established structures to receive or manage payments.
Strong example
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Palm Springs, California, is a part-investor in the transmission line owned by Morongo Transmission LLC and plans to use direct payments to upgrade renewable energy infrastructure for the grid.
- James J. A. Blair et al., Building Community Power: Community Benefits Agreements Across the Global Energy Supply Chain, Climate and Community Institute, October 2025,
https://climateandcommunity.org/research/cbas. ↩︎