Maryland Community Clean Energy Resilience Toolkit
The Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) partnered with the Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC) to develop the Maryland Clean Energy Resilience Toolkit, a comprehensive suite of planning resources for Maryland communities facing interconnected energy, climate, and economic pressures. The toolkit provides local governments, community organizations, and decision-makers with a structured, four-phase, ten-step planning procedure to assess risks, engage stakeholders, identify clean energy resilience solutions, and connect actions to Maryland funding pathways.
Maryland communities are navigating rising energy costs and reliability concerns, intensifying climate hazards including coastal flooding, heat extremes, and storm impacts, and growing pressure on overburdened populations. The toolkit was designed to help communities at any capacity level move from understanding local conditions to implementing practical, fundable resilience measures.
Framework
The toolkit is organized around a "Story, Strategy, Solutions" approach: helping communities frame local challenges clearly, build a strategy through structured stakeholder engagement and evidence-based analysis, and act on prioritized clean energy and resilience solutions. The four-phase planning procedure covers:
Phase 1 — Scoping: Define the problem and need, map audiences and decision authority, and design the engagement process
Phase 2 — Problem Assessment: Develop baseline and future scenarios, conduct risk analysis, and assess vulnerability gaps using tools such as FEMA's National Risk Index, LBNL PRESTO, MDEnviroScreen, and DOE LEAD
Phase 3 — Solution Development: Identify response options using the Energy Resilience Action Catalog, design and evaluate top measures, and refine through stakeholder review
Phase 4 — Implementation: Build an implementation roadmap with lead entities, timelines, and funding, and establish a cycle of monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and updating (MERU)
Toolkit Components
The toolkit includes eight deliverables designed to serve different audiences and planning stages:
Main Report — Full procedural detail, theory, and worked examples for all ten steps
Implementation Guidebook — 10-page narrative companion organized by phase and step
Planning Workbook — Fillable prompts, worked examples, and capture space for community teams
Executive Decision-Maker Checklist — Short reference to enable project scoping, startup, and completion
Energy Resilience Action Catalog — Interactive screening tool with hazard mapping, cost and difficulty ratings, and Maryland program cross-references
Appendix A: Maryland State Programs Guide — Program eligibility, application data requirements, and a Programs at a Glance summary
Appendix B: Maryland Clean Energy and Resilience Landscape — Key state plans, agency partners, and resilience coordination framework
Planning Assessment Indicators — Metrics and data source index for energy and resilience analysts
Capacity Building
CCS and MCEC launched a teaching session series in June 2026 to introduce Maryland municipalities to the toolkit through hands-on webinars. The sessions walk participants through the planning framework, worked examples, and the Action Catalog, and include interactive polling on community priorities and planning barriers. Technical assistance from CCS and MCEC is available at each phase of the planning process, including scoping support, facilitation, analytical assistance, and program navigation.
The toolkit is available through the Maryland Clean Energy Center.
