Overview
The 2024 Climate Act formally established the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity (OEJE) and tasked OEJE with the development of standards and guidelines regarding the potential use and applicability of community benefit plans and agreements for clean energy infrastructure.
Draft Guidance
On September 12, 2025, OEJE released its draft Standards and Guidelines for Community Benefits Plans and Agreements. These guidelines outline best practices to ensure CBPs and CBAs provide meaningful, measurable benefits to communities hosting energy infrastructure. The guidelines are also available in multiple languages:
عربي (Arabic) | Kriolu di Cabo Verde (Cape Verdean Creole) | 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese) | Français (French) | Kreyòl ayisyen (Haitian Creole) | ខ្មែរ (Khmer) |한국인 (Korean) | Português (Portuguese) | Русский (Russian) | Español (Spanish) | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
This guidance is intended to complement regulations promulgated by the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) governing the siting and permitting of Large Clean Energy Infrastructure Facilities and regulations promulgated by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) establishing standards, requirements, and procedures governing the siting and permitting of Small Clean Energy Infrastructure Facilities by Local Governments. For more information on these regulations, visit mass.gov/energypermitting.
Public Engagement and Comments
EEA held a public webinar on Thursday, October 9 to provide an overview of the Draft Guidance on Site Suitability Assessments and Draft Standards and Guidelines for Community Benefit Plans and Agreements, and to provide opportunity for public input. A recording of this webinar is available to view here. The webinar presentation slides are available in multiple languages:
English | عربي (Arabic) | Kriolu di Cabo Verde (Cape Verdean Creole) | Français (French) | Kreyòl ayisyen (Haitian Creole) | ខ្មែរ (Khmer) | Português (Portuguese) | Русский (Russian) | 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese) | Español (Spanish) | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
OEJE accepted written comments on the draft Standards and Guidelines for Community Benefits and Agreements submitted through October 31, 2025. All public comments received can be downloaded as a zip file here.
Contact: ej.inquiries@mass.gov