With the aim of facing the authorization challenges of the data center construction boom, ERM, the world’s largest exclusively focused consulting firm environmental, social and corporate governance and sustainability services, has partnered with AI and data infrastructure company Blumen Systems to remove these obstacles.
The global sustainability consultant announced the partnership May 26, and he says he will helping their clients navigate complex permitting pathways, reduce site-related risks and accelerate the development of increasingly complex and critical capital projects.
“Permitting has always been complex, and now we’re seeing a shift in the scale and urgency of these projects,” says Neeraj Nandurdikar, partner and global lead for capital projects at ERM. “Our clients are navigating thousands of local jurisdictions with increasingly tight deadlines.”
ERM has 160 offices in more than 40 countries. Hannes Boehning, CEO of Blumen, began to develop the company’s renewable energy and infrastructure software tools as a graduate student at Stanford University and founded the company in 2023. “We produced a lot of geographic data, but [at first] it didn’t talk to regulatory agencies,” he notes. “The advent of large ontology models allowed us to build on the technology, creating maps that ‘talk’ to regulations.”
A press release from Blumen stated, “For companies managing power, energy, manufacturing and data center developments, local regulatory requirements and permits are often a source of cost, delay and execution risk. Companies face a convergence of challenges, including enabling uncertainty in thousands of local jurisdictions; Capital is at risk early in the development cycle due to increased regulatory requirements, stakeholders and of investment”.
The companies conducted a couple of pilot projects before entering into the formal partnership, Boehning notes. “In both cases, we were able to extract entire sets of past projects and permits and public hearings.”
Nandurdikar adds, “In those early pilot projects, we saw early signs of value and strong customer interest in having this joint offering. What used to take multiple experts and days and weeks from multiple sources can now be done in days.” This includes obtaining zoning information, identifying geospatial restrictions, codes and jurisdictions, and spotting potential problems early on.
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The release states that Blumen’s proprietary geospatial and regulatory intelligence base “comprises a comprehensive and continuously maintained dataset of local zoning and permitting regimes across the United States that integrates with more than 2,000 geospatial layers and a growing database of historical permitting results. Its rapid permit generation and site risk monitoring is validated by high-quality expert analysis and analytics reliable and trustworthy environments where failures can have material financial and schedule impacts The collaboration enhances the existing ERM partnership ecosystem by providing clients with a clear understanding of permitting pathways, constraints and risks, based on local political and community dynamics, industry-specific design, and operational considerations.
In a typical scenario, “clients bring in a project portfolio and answer a few questions,” says Boehning. “Then we go through thousands of geodata sets and come back a few days later with the first draft analysis.” Blumen’s team will work with ERM experts to provide clients with greater certainty about the authorization process.
Companies will initially focus on North America and data centers, but “really, the need is cross-sector,” says Nandurdikar.
“We are living through an unprecedented infrastructure supercycle,” Boehning said in the statement. “Civil and environmental companies that integrate AI-powered geospatial and regulatory intelligence into their workflows will identify risks earlier, move faster with greater clarity, and deliver projects with a level of quality and consistency not historically possible.”
