Improving the Environmental Permitting Process for Clean Energy Infrastructure

The United States must take concrete actions now to enable a clean energy and nature-positive future. 

This requires ambitious emissions reductions, while protecting and restoring sensitive natural and working lands and maximizing benefits for communities. To avoid the worst impacts of a warming climate, the nation must rapidly transition to clean energy, which will necessitate a 400 percent increase in renewable energy by 2050 and at least a 2.5 times expansion of inter-regional transmission. Reaching the pace and scale the moment demands will require reforming and modernizing key permitting and approval processes at all levels of government and a host of complementary actions to accelerate climate mitigation and restoration projects. The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) goal is to facilitate the delivery of critical clean energy resources, related infrastructure and ecosystem restoration projects at least 50 percent faster than they are today.