In 2025, the Great Plains Institute conducted a nationwide survey of local planners and sustainability staff to understand their needs for advancing climate work. Respondents said the most useful addition to their toolkits would be real-world examples of efforts to advance climate goals.
To figure out where those examples were most needed, we compared the survey results with a scan of existing resources and found that data centers, autonomous vehicles, and energy affordability stood out as the topics with the greatest gaps.
Based on those findings, we convened a cohort of communities from across the country and created two playbooks for local governments. We invite you to join us for a series of webinars in which we will walk through the key takeaways from each. Following the webinars, this blog post will be updated with the recordings and links to the two playbooks.
Zoning as a Tool for Climate and Affordability webinar
GPI facilitated a cohort of 27 communities from across the country that focused on zoning as a low-cost, high-impact tool for local governments with ambitious climate and affordability goals. The cohort explored best practices for zoning ordinance language related to electric vehicle charging, distributed solar installations, battery energy storage, and geothermal power.
In this webinar, GPI staff will share key takeaways from that work and how they can be translated to other emerging technologies.
When: July 15, 2026, 12:00–1:00 p.m. CT
Learn more and register for the webinar.
Aligning Autonomous Vehicles with Local Goals: Resources for Local Governments webinar
GPI developed a playbook for communities considering how autonomous vehicle (AV) deployment relates to their climate goals. It recommends prioritizing an approach known as CASE, which means that the vehicles are connected, automated, shared, and electric. The playbook also identifies the following four levers local governments can use to encourage that approach and provides examples from across the country:
- Include AVs in community plans and planning activities
- Update zoning and regulations to prepare for AVs
- Explore service agreements with AV service providers
- Lead AV testing and pilot programs
In this webinar, GPI staff will walk through each lever and other important considerations for local governments. We will also provide an overview of the pilot project checklist provided in the playbook.
When: July 22, 2026, 12:00–1:00 p.m. CT
Learn more and register for the webinar.
Aligning Data Centers with Local Goals: Resources for Local Governments webinar
GPI also compiled a playbook for communities considering data center development, offering practical guidance on evaluating project alignment with community priorities and climate goals. It identifies four key levers for local government action:
- Zoning ordinances, comprehensive plans, and other plans
- Development agreements, community benefits agreements, and other agreements
- Impact studies
- External coordination
In this webinar, GPI staff will walk through each lever and other important considerations for local governments. We will also provide an overview of the development review checklist provided in the playbook.
When: July 29, 2026, 12:00–1:00 p.m. CT
Learn more and register for the webinar.
Work with us to support your community
GPI will also continue to offer technical support to communities addressing these topics as part of their climate work. Please reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions or are interested in working with us.
