Scaling Clean: Eli Andrews, CEO and Co-Founder of CivicIQ

Buy-in from local communities can make or break an energy project. Across the country, developers are encountering organized opposition, misinformation, and political headwinds that can stall permitting long before a project reaches a planning board.

My latest Scaling Clean guest, Eli Andrews, CEO and Co-Founder of civicIQ, is building a new model for community engagement,  rooted in listening, longitudinal dialogue and data-driven testing.

civicIQ helps developers gauge community sentiment, counter misinformation and build genuine local support long before projects break ground.

Here are three takeaways from our conversation.

Opposition isn’t constant. It’s dynamic.

Eli emphasized that community sentiment changes over time, especially in response to political noise. What worked in 2023 may not work in 2025. Developers can’t treat opposition as a constant. It requires ongoing listening and adaptive engagement.

“Magic happens when you invite communities in—even the opposition—and truly include them so that these projects aren’t just helicoptering in and happening to them, but instead give them some sense of agency. They are heard, listened to, and responded to, especially during the design and early stages.”

Invite the community into CapEx-friendly decision-making.

Instead of asking communities, “Are you for or against this project?” civicIQ asks questions that invite participation in design. Pollinator grasses or increasing the buffer zone on the property line? Solar grazing or alternative layouts? When people are included in CapEx-friendly design decisions, the conversation both educates and invites. 

“It reframes the entire conversation beyond, “are you supportive or against?” That's in one sense what we do. We listen, we respond, and we develop roadmaps for what could look like a really successful development in any given community.”

AI may help “re-ground” communities in a shared set of facts.

Eli described research from MIT showing that short conversations with an AI chatbot helped about 20% of conspiracy theorists disentangle from conspiracy beliefs. Inspired by this, civicIQ built AI agents trained on a narrow, fact-checked knowledge base about clean energy to engage people who believe misinformation about solar, wind, and storage. 

Early results suggest that transparent AI conversations can sometimes be more effective than person-to-person debate, helping people explore credible sources and reconsider their views. The goal isn’t persuasion, but what Eli calls “narrative regrounding” or bringing communities back to a shared set of facts.

CiviqIQ is still testing this and it isn’t out of the lab yet. 

“We're not trying to persuade or convince anyone of anything. Our approach to this is something we call narrative regrounding. The idea is that we could simply reground some communities, perhaps even our country, in a shared set of facts about something that matters.”

Why This Conversation Matters

Community engagement isn’t a box to check before permitting. It’s the first step to take before a project ever enters a community.

Below are some of Eli’s reflections: 

• National narratives are shaping local outcomes. That’s one reason why community opposition is ever-changing, and developers must adapt with it.

• Projects that invite communities in, early and authentically, have a better chance of long-term success.

• People don’t always trust people, which is why some Americans are turning to transparent conversations with AI for information. What opportunities does that open for how we engage communities?

As Eli put it, projects shouldn’t “helicopter in and happen to communities.” They should be built with them.

Listen to the episode on Apple, Spotify, Radio Public, Amazon Music, and iHeart.