The Hidden Bill of Green Conflict: Derisking Renewable Energy by Strengthening Community Trust

• Global energy security is a pressing concern and raising demand for renewables. Yet the renewables sector is facing a less visible constraint - unmanaged conflict with communities.
• IHRB's report - The Hidden Bill of Green Conflict: Derisking Renewable Energy by Strengthening Community Trust - finds the costs of company-community conflict in renewables are largely untracked. This 'hidden bill' poses enormous material and operational risks to companies, the renewables roll out, and climate targets.
• In one rare example, a renewables developer quantified costs amassing to US$200 million in losses, 3.3GW of undeveloped electricity capacity, and over US$4 billion in potential clean energy investments lost over a ten year period.
• Through detailed analysis of recorded company-community conflicts and more than 60 confidential interviews with renewable energy companies, investors, legal advisors, and civil society organisations, the report finds where community trust is prioritised early in the project lifecycle and embedded across core business functions, practitioners experience reduced volatility, accelerated delivery, and strengthened long-term asset resilience.
• The report provides practical tools to help derisk projects, including a taxonomy of conflict-related costs, new evidence of how conflict emerges, and four operational pathways to prevent costs and build value by strengthening community trust. 

"As the global transition accelerates, the renewables sector must develop a deep and nuanced understanding of the causes and consequences of local opposition. IHRB’s groundbreaking work to map and quantify community conflict and then apply a financial lens represents a substantial contribution to that end."

- Lamin Khadar, Head of Human Rights and Social, Corporate Sustainability, Statkraft AS

"At RWE, we see community trust as a key factor in delivering our projects successfully. This report highlights how unmanaged social conflict can create financial and operational risks. Embedding early and meaningful stakeholder engagement helps reduce delays, protect investments and strengthen long-term project value.For us, community engagement is not an add-on, but a core element of responsible and resilient project development."

- Maren Duprés, Sustainability Project Manager, RWE

"Actis welcomes this report’s focus on the role of community engagement in shaping renewable energy project outcomes. It highlights an important link between stakeholder relationships and long-term value creation. While approaches must remain context-specific, we support continued industry dialogue to strengthen how social risks are understood and managed in practice."

- James Magor, Sustainability Principal, Act.is

"This report demonstrates that community trust is central to the success of the energy transition. It reinforces a critical point: if social tensions and environmental concerns are not identified and addressed early, they can quickly become material operational, financial, and reputational risks. This report is a timely contribution to the broader collaboration needed among companies, communities, and other stakeholders to embed human rights, meaningful engagement, and fair benefit-sharing into project decision-making."

- Yara Kayyali El Alem, Supply Chain Management, Mercuria 

"This is a welcome report, and I would go so far to say that it succeeds in shedding new light on the often-hidden cost of community conflict in the renewable energy sector. In particular appreciate the break-down of costs as it enables engagement with relevant internal functions to better understanding how these costs are currently managed and how they might be more effectively visualised. No doubt visualizing costs and linking them to where in the project lifecycle they materialise can create opportunities to act more proactively, either by preventing conflict or by putting timely mitigating measures in place, and where relevant in collaboration with i.e. customers and investors. If managed well, this in return can help strengthen community engagement and build and maintain the trust needed to advance renewable energy responsibly."

- Bettina Thomsen, Senior Specialist, Regional CSR Manager (EMEA), Global Compliance & CSR, Vestas

This research report would not have been possible without the dedication of the project team: Amir Richani and Haley St. Dennis led the project design, research, engagement, and drafting, with support from Tomás Aboim, Rakesh Ranjan, and Carmen Pedraza throughout, as well as Patricia Romasi and Tokelo Shai at the early stages.

We are deeply grateful to the more than 60 practitioners who generously shared their time and reflections through interviews conducted in 2024 and 2025. Particular appreciation is owed to those who participated in the field research in La Guajira, Colombia. Community members, local leaders, practitioners, and organisations in the region offered invaluable perspectives on how renewable energy development intersects with land, livelihoods, and rights.

Finally, we acknowledge the support of the Clifford Chance Foundation as well as the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, whose partnership made this research possible. We are grateful for their commitment to advancing a deeper understanding of the social dimensions of the renewable energy transition.