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    Renewable energy development and land conservation are both essential for addressing climate change. But what happens if a large, utility-scale solar project is proposed on top of prime farmland? What if a new transmission line will divide an intact forest?

    Land trusts can engage policymakers, project developers, utility regulators and utility companies to ensure that new energy infrastructure—whether renewable or fossil—is developed with both climate and conservation goals in mind.

    This toolkit helps land trusts understand why energy infrastructure siting matters, what to advocate for, and how to engage within different states’ policy and regulatory frameworks. It also shares vetted resources and decision-making aids along the way.

    Land trusts can help chart win-win solutions for increasing renewable energy and conserving natural and working lands.

    A growing role for land trusts

    Even as the federal landscape evolves, states and companies continue to fulfill their clean energy commitments. Land conservation organizations are increasingly drawn into policy conversations about where and how traditional and renewable energy infrastructure should be built.

    The Land Trust Alliance has developed resources to help land trusts work with the relevant authorities to site transmission, wind turbines and solar arrays away from sensitive natural lands. These same resources are relevant to other rapidly emerging issues, such as where to locate energy-intensive data centers.

    This toolkit is based on resources the Alliance commissioned from the Great Plains Institute. It also draws on the valuable perspectives of conservation organizations around the U.S. that have participated in the development of sustainable siting policies and practices.

    Land trusts are already integrating climate resilience science into strategic planning, advancing natural climate solutions, and developing carbon offset projects. Renewable energy siting presents another opportunity for land trusts to engage communities in addressing climate change and safeguarding the land, water and air.

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