Our current approach to environmental permitting is untenable—and a major barrier to the scale of effort required to meet our climate and infrastructure goals. The U.S. needs a permitting system that can adapt to today’s project demands, improve efficiency, and facilitate timely action.

Our goal is to advance ecological restoration at scale, which requires bringing the permitting process into the 21st Century. We can make the permitting process more responsive and effective for the projects that restore our landscapes and fortify our communities. Our approach centers on collaboration, technology, and forward-thinking policies, emphasizing that we can streamline approvals for restoration projects while maintaining the strong protections that make our regulatory system one of the world’s best.

Swampy forest with a pink and blue sky

National environmental laws adopted over 50 years ago were designed to address widespread industrial contamination and habitat loss. They are landmark achievements for public health and better stewardship of the country’s land, water, air, and biodiversity. Despite the alignment between these laws and the intentions of ecological restoration and NbS, agencies’ regulatory processes are significantly impeding these efforts. Complex regulatory changes and opaque agency procedures mean that environmental reviews and permitting are slower, more resource-intensive, and less effective—for all involved—at a time when it is critical to act quickly. The process is disconnected from outcomes that deliver tangible value; to the environment, communities, project proponents, and the regulators charged with protecting our ecosystems and public health. As a result, ecological restoration sites are often selected based on ease of permitting rather than restoration potential—ultimately sacrificing opportunities for the environmental gains the country needs to address climate change and biodiversity loss.

The following strategies provide actionable steps to improve the environmental review and permitting process, enhance coordination among agencies, and achieve better outcomes for all stakeholders.

  • Interagency coordination is key to improving environmental review and permitting timelines. By establishing regional task forces across federal, state, and local agencies, we can streamline the review and approval of restoration projects, ensuring alignment and reducing duplication of efforts. Building on models like the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, these task forces can identify bottlenecks, share best practices, and promote transparency in decision-making. A dedicated unit within the Permitting Council focused on natural infrastructure would further accelerate NbS projects by providing specialized oversight.

  • Albert Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created it,” which applies to how we need to improve the implementation of our environmental laws. Updating environmental reviews and permitting requires reimagining what the process needs to look like today to speed up progress. Implementing e-permitting systems, for example, can replace all-too-common and outdated, paper-based processes, improving speed and accountability. AI tools can be used to draft routine environmental assessments, freeing up agency resources for more complex reviews. Specialized permit forms for restoration projects should be developed to address the unique characteristics of these initiatives. These changes would speed up permit issuance, enabling faster project implementation without compromising the integrity of environmental reviews.

  • Environmental review and permitting improvements must also address the broader regulatory framework that governs land use and development. A more integrated approach would prioritize restoration and conservation in all development projects, minimizing environmental impacts from the outset. Transitioning to a “net gain” policy, where environmental restoration is a guiding principle, would align public and private investments with long-term sustainability goals. Improving compensatory mitigation policies and incentivizing voluntary restoration efforts will create a more proactive regulatory environment, delivering better outcomes for both the environment and the economy. Building off of 30x30 and similar initiatives, each state and/or region needs a conservation and restoration strategy to ensure long-term protection of natural resources that enhance and support climate-resilience goals.

Every day, more people, communities, organizations, practitioners, engineers, and government agencies express frustration with the permitting process for ecological restoration and nature-based solutions. This process is slowing down the work that is urgently needed to restore ecosystems, protect species, and safeguard communities and infrastructure from climate change. As momentum builds around permitting improvements, the months and years ahead offer a critical opportunity. We have the chance to accelerate restoration, enhance climate resilience, and create a healthier environment for people and wildlife. By improving the permitting system, we can reduce barriers, streamline processes, and ensure that ecological restoration and nature-based solutions play a key role in building a more resilient and sustainable future.

 Our Initiatives

Fund Nature, Not Paperwork

Leaders around the globe committed to restoring 30% of the world’s degraded ecosystems (Target 2 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2023 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework). But right now, the costs of permitting burn through up to ⅓ of a restoration project’s budget. We think  restoration permits should take less than 1 year to approve. We are identifying policy and programmatic changes to speed up the approval processes for restoration projects. Restoration projects are fundamentally different from impactful development projects, and regulators should create categorical exemptions, a fast-track path, interagency coordination opportunities, and transparent processes to speed the approval of these projects.

Leverage technology to speed up and increase accountability in permitting

We approach this work holistically through advancing data standards, user-centered tool development, hiring tech talent and supporting shared services across agencies. Some examples include synthesizing stakeholder input on a new US Army Corps of Engineers’ e-permitting system, conducting detailed user testing of the US Fish and Wildlife’s IPaC tool, partnering on a user centered design process to envision a better RIBITS (tool used by wetland, stream, and species mitigation stakeholders), supporting environmental technology & data summits and advising on topics like data standards in environmental permitting, and smart applications of AI to speed up the process.

Streamline NEPA

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