Collaboration combines ERM’s capital project delivery expertise with Blumen’s regulatory and geospatial intelligence 

ERM, the world’s largest sustainability consultancy, is partnering with Blumen, a leader in AI and data infrastructure for permitting and environmental practice, to help clients navigate complex permitting pathways, reduce site‑related risks, and accelerate the development of critical yet increasingly complex capital projects.  

For companies managing power, energy, manufacturing and data center developments, permitting and local regulatory requirements are often a source of cost, delay and execution risk. Companies face a convergence of challenges, including permitting uncertainty across thousands of local  jurisdictions; compressed development timelines driven by urgent  electrification and data center demands; and intensifying local and political scrutiny. Together, these factors mean more capital is at risk earlier in the development cycle due to increased regulatory, stakeholder and investment requirements. 

In this environment, traditional permitting approaches based on time- intensive manual research and fragmented local data limit companies’ ability to develop a complete, consistent, and defensible view of permitting constraints and timelines. 

Turning regulatory signals into actionable project decisions 

Blumen’s proprietary foundation of regulatory and geospatial intelligence includes a comprehensive, continuously maintained dataset of local zoning and permitting regimes across the US that is integrated with more than 2,000 geospatial layers and a growing database of historic permitting outcomes. Its rapid generation of permitting and site risk intelligence is validated through expert quality assurance, ensuring reliable analysis in high‑stakes regulatory environments where errors can have material financial and schedule impacts. 

The collaboration enhances ERM’s existing ecosystem of partnerships by providing clients with a clear understanding of permitting pathways, constraints and risks, informed by local political and community dynamics, sector‑specific design and operational considerations. This insight is integrated into ERM’s broader capital project advisory capabilities—including project siting and feasibility, stakeholder and community engagement planing, environmental permitting, and schedule and risk mitigation—to ensure permitting intelligence informs holistic project decisions and delivers execution certainty to projects. 

Neeraj Nandurdikar, Global Service Leader for Capital Project Delivery at ERM, said: “For capital projects, permitting uncertainty can be one of the biggest drivers of cost, delay and risk. By combining ERM’s strategic and delivery expertise with Blumen’s AI‑driven regulatory and geospatial intelligence, we give clients earlier, clearer visibility of permitting constraints and pathways across the capital project lifecycle. This end‑to‑end support provides greater continuity, fewer handoffs and reduced loss of insight, leading to better decisions, accelerated timelines and enhanced project outcomes.” 

Hannes Boehning, Founder and CEO at Blumen, said: “We are living through an unprecedented infrastructure supercycle, and the environmental and civil firms that integrate AI-powered regulatory and geospatial intelligence into their workflows will identify risks earlier, move faster with greater clarity, and deliver projects with a level of quality and consistency that has historically not been possible. ERM is among the first of the world’s leading consultancies to embrace this shift. We share the belief that AI should raise the quality and consistency of infrastructure services, not just accelerate them.” 

About ERM 

Sustainability is our business. 

As the world’s largest sustainability consultancy, ERM partners with clients to operationalize sustainability at pace and scale, combining strategic transformation with deep technical delivery. With more than 50 years of experience, ERM’s team of 8,000+ experts across 40 countries and territories helps clients unlock commercial opportunities while addressing today’s sustainability challenges and preserving opportunity for future generations. Learn more at www.erm.com. 

About Blumen

Blumen Systems is the operating system for environmental and civil practice. Our platform automates site screening, environmental due diligence, and permitting research — giving environmental consultants, engineers, and project developers the intelligence they need to move from concept to permits faster. Blumen is the category leader in AI for environmental and permitting workflows, used by leading firms on over 60GW of projects in 2025 alone to evaluate regulatory risk, navigate agency requirements, and accelerate project delivery. For more information, visit blumensystems.com.