C
Track C · Deeper Dive: Community Trust as Infrastructure

What do communities need to see, hear, and experience before they support new energy infrastructure nearby?

Friday, November 611:15 - 12:30

About This Session

Speakers will explore what communities actually need to say yes to clean energy infrastructure, and why trust, not just technology or financing, has become one of the most consequential variables in whether projects get built. With panelists spanning climate tech scaling, municipal planning and zoning, grassroots clean energy advocacy, cross-border stakeholder relations, and traditional fuel distribution, the conversation treats community acceptance as a siting, permitting, and deployment challenge with its own operational logic.

Key Questions Explored

  • What do communities need to see, hear, and experience before they support new energy infrastructure nearby?
  • Where has the industry most consistently underestimated the time and relationship-building required to earn local trust?
  • What role do existing energy relationships, including with traditional fuel distributors, play in building credibility for new infrastructure?
  • What would a community trust strategy look like if it were treated as seriously as the technical and financial plans?

Register for AEC 2026

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