Delivering Clean Energy at Speed and Scale: An Integrated Approach to Clean Energy, Biodiversity, and Tribal Stewardship in California

By Janine Knapp, Matt Keller, Michael Scott, and Chuck Striplen

Executive Summary
California is a leader in conserving nature to protect water and air quality, biodiversity, and access to the outdoors and deploying clean energy to reduce climate pollution, but that leadership now faces a defining test. The state needs to maintain an unprecedented pace and scale of clean energy and electric transmission project deployment in ways that keep electricity affordable for families and businesses, minimize regulatory delays, and also protect California’s natural and cultural resources. Without coordinated reforms that complement the progress already underway, projects will face costly delays that drive up electricity rates, slow climate progress, and leave these critical statutory objectives in conflict rather than advancing together.

The stakes for consumers are high. Project delays don’t just postpone climate solutions—they increase costs at every stage. When clean energy projects don’t anticipate potential conflicts with communities, Tribal resources, or conservation lands early in the permitting process, developers face expensive redesigns, extended timelines, and legal challenges. These costs are largely passed on to electricity customers. By addressing potential conflicts early through better planning and coordination, California can deliver clean energy infrastructure faster and more affordably.

To better understand how to accelerate project delivery while controlling costs, Resources Legacy Fund (RLF) convened a project team and spoke with experts in policy, government, clean energy development, and philanthropy to identify solutions at the intersection of these critical state policy goals.

This discussion paper presents ideas that fill important gaps in California’s existing regulatory frameworks. The desired outcomes are building critical clean energy infrastructure at the speed and scale required to meet climate goals, delivering these projects at lower cost to electricity customers, limiting impacts to biodiversity and natural lands, and ensuring early, meaningful engagement with communities and California Native American Tribes. As utility-scale renewable energy and transmission projects rely on public lands to meet the state’s ambitious climate targets, the likelihood of encountering culturally significant Tribal resources rises—making early Tribal engagement not just respectful, but essential to avoiding costly project delays and redesigns.

The path forward is clear: when clean energy infrastructure planners and developers factor community needs, Tribal resources, and conservation priorities into the earliest stages of project planning— before routes are finalized and before significant capital is committed—they accelerate project delivery, avoid costly mid-stream corrections, and reduce conflicts that lead to delays. This front-end investment in coordination pays dividends in faster permitting, lower project costs, and more affordable electricity for all Californians.

California’s next phase of climate leadership isn’t about choosing between priorities—it’s about aligning them early. At the scale we need to build, project-by-project solutions will not be enough. We need systemic reforms that resolve conflicts during planning, before costs escalate. The recommendations in this paper provide a roadmap for state leaders to modernize how California plans and permits clean energy infrastructure—ensuring we meet our climate goals while respecting our lands, our communities, and Tribal sovereignty.

See our full discussion paper here: Delivering Clean Energy at Speed and Scale: An Integrated Approach to Clean Energy, Biodiversity, and Tribal Stewardship in California

Energy sector technical expertise provided by The Nature Conservancy’s California Climate Program, Erica Brand and Laura Crane

Interview support and synthesis provided by Triple C Consulting, Helen O’Shea, Founder