Sameera Fazili, Pronita Gupta and Doug Bloch run the Ramp Up initiative, which helps companies, labor unions and community groups develop community benefits agreements.
Local opposition can make or break the best business plan. In June 2024, developers shelved plans for a $1.3 billion data center in Indiana after facing significant local opposition over environmental concerns. This isn’t just a one-off. A recent industry survey found an estimated one-third of wind and solar siting applications were canceled in the last five years, and community opposition ranked as a leading cause.
Companies that want to build large capital projects — from a factory, to a data center, to a solar farm — need to find ways to prudently manage execution risk. When issues inevitably arise around permitting, labor shortages, or local opposition they interject costly delays and can even kill projects.
