Dialogue Insights: Understanding the Costs of Green Conflict
17 June 2025
On 31 March 2025, IHRB hosted an expert dialogue on the costs of green conflict with representatives from wind and solar companies and industry associations on the value at stake when renewables companies experience social opposition and conflict with stakeholders affected by their projects, at the offices of Clifford Chance LLP.
The costs of green conflict project is exploring a core question: if the costs of social opposition and conflict experienced by the renewables industry were better understood, would relationships between companies and local communities receive greater priority and attention?
The expert dialogue built on earlier multistakeholder convenings launching the project in February 2024 (Washington, D.C.) and in October 2024 (Geneva) on the state of widening global conflict and the role of business. The dialogue sought to enable constructive exchange amongst key industry actors across the renewables value chain to better understand the spectrum of costs that renewables companies incur when they experience conflict with local communities. In particular, it aimed to:
- Understand the existing state of play in costing efforts across the environmental, occupational health and safety, social risk, and other ESG areas more broadly.
- Learn from individual and collective experiences of how social opposition and conflict-related costs are identified, understood, and managed.
- Explore the extent and nature of the business case for improved human rights due diligence as a key tool for avoiding and mitigating company-community conflict across the global renewables rollout.
