The energy transition is all-encompassing; it touches every sector of the economy and impacts communities large and small across the socioeconomic spectrum. When it comes to energy, policymakers and business leaders are divided over the details, but they can all agree on one fact: we need more, and we need it fast.

Yet energy projects of all kinds — production, generation, storage, and distribution — are facing crippling regulatory delays and determined opposition on the ground level.

It doesn’t matter if you are building…

Wind turbines
Solar panels
Nuclear reactors
Natural gas pipelines
Battery or hydrogen storage
Carbon capture and sequestration
Oil and gas pipelines

You are going to fight an uphill battle to win public, community, and regulatory approval.

To build the energy our society needs, energy developers must earn the trust of communities and Congress. Authentic public affairs, including community engagement, legislative advocacy, and strategic communications, is essential to doing so.

As the largest full-service public affairs agency in the country, DDC understands exactly what it takes to authentically communicate the value of energy projects.

What We’ve Learned Over Three Decades of Experience

Our Energy Practice Group has been leading advocacy and communications campaigns for some of the largest energy companies and trade associations for nearly 30 years, shaping public opinion, engaging key stakeholders, and changing the political landscape for our clients.

DDC has guided investor-owned utilities, downstream operators, pipelines, integrated producers, and renewable energy developers through complex political and regulatory challenges. We have engaged stakeholders at the local, state, and national levels, educating them on the positive impact of energy projects and winning their support.

Through our decades of experience across the energy sector, we have identified two primary roadblocks to a successful energy transition:

Community opposition to projects
An increasingly complex regulatory environment

The two issues feed off each other.

Community opposition to energy projects, much of which is supported by well-funded national activist organizations, keeps the current regulatory environment in place.

The regulatory environment, particularly the federal permitting process governed by NEPA, is increasingly complex, giving opponents to energy projects more firepower at the community level to oppose and delay construction.

Each energy project has its own set of special demands depending on its technology and footprint, but these two issues affect all ventures. So, what are energy developers to do?

Key Steps to Successful Community Engagement

A successful project hinges on community approval. To earn community approval, energy developers must put authentic engagement at the very top of their list of priorities — and they need to start doing it before the first shovel ever hits the ground.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for effective community engagement because each project and community is unique. Through our extensive experience guiding energy developers through community engagement campaigns, DDC’s Energy Practice Group has identified key steps and best practices that energy developers must take to ensure communities understand and approve of their project proposal.

1. Understand the physical and cultural landscape of the community

Community engagement is only effective if each message is tailored to its intended recipient. To ensure authentic communications that resonate with key stakeholders, energy developers need to understand what makes each community unique.

There are a number of tangible steps developers can take to fully grasp the unique characteristics of a community:

Conduct local media analysis
Field quantitative and qualitative research
- E.g., surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews
Analyze demographic and economic data
Identify key stakeholders
- E.g., property owners, community leaders, activists, and local officials
Research similar projects to identify successful (and unsuccessful) approaches

2. Develop a comprehensive, multichannel engagement plan

Community engagement is effective only if there is a tangible strategy guiding it and it can reach various stakeholders where and how they are most likely to engage. Energy developers must develop a comprehensive plan that reaches key stakeholders through multiple channels, ensuring a surround-sound approach that educates, informs, and persuades.

Authentic outreach must be multi-pronged, measurable, and adaptable based on feedback. A comprehensive engagement plan must have:

Digital media, both paid and organic
A layperson-friendly website
Easily accessible and digestible educational content
- E.g., explainer videos, FAQs, one-pagers, and fact sheets
Earned media outreach
- E.g., op-eds, letters to the editor, and print and broadcast interviews with local channels
Dedicated on-the-ground spokespeople
Proactive and reactive media relations
Message training for company employees and contractors
In-person events
- E.g., town halls, small-group meetings, and educational presentations.

3. Measure impact, collect feedback, and adjust accordingly

It is almost a guarantee that some aspects of your plan will elicit mixed or outright negative responses. Yet by putting the right tracking and reporting mechanisms in place, you can measure the success of your plan and adjust your tactics accordingly.

In-person reactions, written comments, and digital metrics are all data points that you must use to gauge the effectiveness of your outreach. An effective measurement plan must include:

Daily digital metrics tracking and reporting
Daily media monitoring and clipping
Channels to submit comments and feedback to developers
- E.g., social media accounts, website forms, and in-person town halls and meetings
Post-event assessments and follow-ups
Small group assessments and one-on-one outreach to solicit feedback

DDC’s Energy Practice Group: Looking to the Future

DDC’s Energy Practice Group is fully equipped to plan and execute comprehensive community and stakeholder engagement campaigns for energy projects of every size and type. We have guided energy developers across the value chain in every part of the country through complex community engagement challenges, helping them break through the noise and authentically connect with the people who matter.

We are making investments now to meet the moment of the energy transition.

Building on our extensive, cross-sector experience in energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing, DDC’s Energy Practice Group is expanding in size and scope to meet the challenges of the energy transition.

We have made critical new additions to our team; introduced enhanced community and stakeholder engagement services; integrated our broader tech capabilities into the Energy Practice; and will continue to share our expertise with you through blogs, podcasts, and other analyses over the coming months.

Keep an eye out for our next post, outlining the common community and stakeholder engagement challenges that all energy and infrastructure projects face.

Authentic Public Affairs for the Energy Transition: Perspectives from DDC’s Energy Practice Group