Permitting reform has become one of the most consequential—and controversial—topics in U.S. climate and energy policy. As electricity demand rises due to AI, data centers, electrification, and economic growth, many argue that the country’s permitting, transmission, and interconnection processes are too slow to support the clean energy transition. In this special crossover episode jointly produced by the Climate Rising and CleanLaw podcasts, Mike Toffel and Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman speak with Nat Keohane, President of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). They discuss why permitting reform has emerged as a rare area of bipartisan interest, the challenges of modernizing America’s electric grid, and the tradeoffs between accelerating infrastructure development and maintaining environmental safeguards. The conversation examines how permitting, transmission planning, utility incentives, AI-driven electricity demand, and federal-state governance intersect—and why solving these challenges may be essential to both climate progress and American competitiveness.

Powering AI and the Energy Transition: Why Permitting Reform Matters

Spotify

Permitting reform has become one of the most consequential—and controversial—topics in U.S. climate and energy policy. As electricity demand rises due to AI, data centers, electrification, and economic growth, many argue that the country’s permitting, transmission, and interconnection processes are too slow to support the clean energy transition. In this special crossover episode jointly produced by the Climate Rising and CleanLaw podcasts, Mike Toffel and Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman speak with Nat Keohane, President of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). They discuss why permitting reform has emerged as a rare area of bipartisan interest, the challenges of modernizing America’s electric grid, and the tradeoffs between accelerating infrastructure development and maintaining environmental safeguards. The conversation examines how permitting, transmission planning, utility incentives, AI-driven electricity demand, and federal-state governance intersect—and why solving these challenges may be essential to both climate progress and American competitiveness.          

Climate Rising is about the impact of climate change on business. It brings business and policy leaders and Harvard Business School faculty together to share insights about what businesses are doing, can do, and should do to confront climate change. It explores the many challenges and opportunities that climate change raises for managers, such as decisions about where they choose to locate, the technologies they develop and use, their strategies with respect to products, marketing, customer engagement, and policy—in other words, the full spectrum of business concerns.

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