Equitable Adaptation Legal & Policy Toolkit

Other Public-Private Partnerships

Other public-private partnerships can provide financial benefits for cities and states while not always directly providing private finance. Private entities can use their specialized expertise to streamline procurement and implementation processes and, in the process, stretch and save public funds. Energy Service Company (CMC Energy), for example, secures grants from public utilities and energy companies to implement energy-efficiency measures in schools and multi-dweller residences. Case studies of public-private partnerships involving private sector entity Corvias, which partnered with Prince George’s County in Maryland and the city of Chester in Delaware to improve stormwater management practices, are provided in other chapters of the toolkit. 

Considerations of Other Public-Private Partnerships

Economic
  • Given that municipalities face limits in the amount of debt they can accrue through bonds and other approaches, partnerships with private sector entities provide another useful option for meeting adaptation needs.

Environmental
  • PPPs often focus on environmental measures given that the value of environmental services is increasingly recognized and quantified.

Social/Equity
  • Equity in the context of PPP can be advanced not only through financing measures that benefit disadvantaged communities but also through activities that employ these communities.

Administrative
  • One of the most significant benefits to a PPP is private sector expertise in streamlining administrative processes and, in the process, saving money for public sector entities.

Legal
  • There is no binding definition of a PPP, and, as such, no fixed set of laws and policies that apply to these arrangements.
  • PPPs can be supported by memoranda of understanding (MOUs).

Lessons Learned

  • Direct financing is not always the best solution; public entities might secure desired results through private sector partnerships that meet public needs while providing financial benefits to the private sector entity.

 

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