What climate-centric leaders need from you
What does it mean when the climate movement’s most visible champions start asking questions about issues they once dismissed as denialist talking points? The pivot from The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition is underway.
In the wake of November’s election, we saw the first unmistakable signs that political and civic leaders were struggling to reconcile their climate commitments with public frustration over affordability, reliability, and complexity. We explored this in “The Upheaval,” examining Gavin Newsom’s public repositioning as signaling something bigger than just personal rebranding—it marked the beginning of a scramble among Democrats to find a post-Myth, post-MAGA foothold.
What’s happening now isn’t just weird. It’s full of strategic opportunity for you and your business.
Both of these things are true:
- The orthodoxies of the climate left are losing their grip.
- The leaders shaped by those orthodoxies are still trying to lead—and they need help to do so credibly.
How to lead in The Moment: A regulator in the crosshairs
Imagine you’re working with a state energy commissioner who’s responsible for balancing climate mandates with grid reliability in a politically divided state. She’s facing mounting pressure—from parties ranging from progressive legislators demanding faster decarbonization to rural ratepayers angry about rising costs. She knows some of the current targets are slipping out of reach, but saying so publicly could risk her credibility with key allies. Here’s how you help—by deploying the Three Ts:
- Timeframe. Provide examples that show how long-term planning, not short-term heroics, delivers durable climate progress. Help her reframe slower timelines as strategic—especially in light of real-world workforce, permitting, and infrastructure constraints.
- Trade-offs. Equip her with language and local data that explain why compromise is leadership, not capitulation. For example, show how maintaining gas capacity today keeps the lights on and enables more renewables tomorrow.
- Truth. Offer ways to acknowledge challenges transparently—without sounding as if she’s giving up. Highlight peers in other states who’ve reset targets while still signaling strong commitment.
With that support, she’s no longer stuck defending the indefensible. She’s leading.
This is what opportunity looks like in The Moment. If you’re waiting for an invitation to shape the future of energy policy, this is it. Your climate-centric partners are ready to move—but they need someone to help them build the case.
That someone is you.
This isn’t about retreating from climate ambition. It’s about making climate ambition deliverable. It’s about giving the leaders you work with the tools, cover, and confidence to step into The Moment with clarity and conviction.
The scramble
The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition may be unraveling, but its power still lingers. In statehouses and boardrooms across the country, well-meaning leaders are contorting themselves in the effort to square their past commitments with today’s realities. They were promised that the energy transition would be swift, righteous, and powered entirely by renewables. Now they’re staring down budget shortfalls, grid reliability concerns, and an increasingly skeptical public.
And yet climate remains their brand. Many of these officials built the last 10 years of their careers on the ambitious goals and uncompromising messaging of the climate left. Backtracking isn’t just politically risky—it feels like a betrayal of identity. So instead, they stall. Or they double down.
They don’t need education on the role of oil and gas. They need a way forward—and they’re looking for someone who can help them find it. Someone who understands what they’re up against: past commitments that no longer match present realities, a base that still believes in slogans, and a political landscape that punishes nuance. What they need now is a credible partner who takes climate seriously, knows how energy systems actually work, and can help them navigate The Moment with integrity.
Again, that’s you.
As I explored in “The Upheaval,” climate-centric leaders can’t and won’t pivot to pragmatism just because the facts have changed—they need support to do so without losing face. That means you need to offer three essential forms of help:
- First, permission to be pragmatic. Many of these leaders know their slogans don’t match today’s realities, but they fear being labeled sellouts. You can help them reframe realism as responsibility.
- Second, narrative tools. These leaders need ways to talk about complexity without alienating their base. That includes local examples, values-based framing, and language that maintains ambition while adjusting expectations.
- And finally, cover. Even the most courageous leaders won’t act alone. By encouraging them to join or build coalitions of pragmatic, diverse partners, you give them the political shelter they need.
But even with those supports in place, your climate-centric stakeholders still face a critical challenge: They need a way to explain to their supporters why climate action is still feasible—just more challenging than they once believed. Once again, you’re there for them.
- Speak their ambition. Frame pragmatism not as a retreat from their climate goals but as the only viable path to achieving them in today’s economic and political landscape.
- Normalize trade-offs. Prompt them to talk about the energy system as a whole. Use grounded, local examples—grid strain, permitting delays, rising utility costs—to show why nuance is not a weakness but a necessity.
- Acknowledge the narrative pull. Honor the ideals that brought them into this work. Then gently introduce the new data, constraints, and realities that must reshape what leadership looks like now.
- Name The Moment. Give them language for what they’re experiencing. Whether it’s “the pragmatist’s pivot” or “the next phase of climate leadership,” help them transform confusion into clarity.
- Celebrate courage. Spotlight those navigating the middle path—especially in politically diverse jurisdictions—and lift up their example. Doing so gives others permission to act with similar resolve.
The Three Ts are your Touchstone
The real opportunity for impact isn’t about winning policy arguments—it’s about clearing space for your stakeholders to lead. That’s why the Three T’s—Timeframe, Trade-offs, and Truth—are so powerful.
When you help leaders move from crisis mode to long-term strategy, you show that realistic timeframes aren’t signs of retreat but marks of responsible leadership.
When you bring examples that reveal the necessity of compromise—like using gas reliability to prevent blackouts or investing in infrastructure that serves both climate and consumer needs—you normalize trade-offs as a hallmark of maturity, not weakness.
And by helping leaders find honest language to acknowledge when targets are out of reach, you demonstrate that telling the truth is not surrender—but the foundation of lasting trust.
Now what?
Your climate-centric stakeholders aren’t waiting for permission—they’re waiting for a partner. At Adamantine, we work with company leaders who aren’t just navigating The Moment—they’re shaping it. If you’re ready to help regulators, legislators, and community leaders lead with clarity through complexity, let’s get to work.
- Schedule a team strategy session on how to support pragmatic climate leadership in your key jurisdictions.
- Forward this to three colleagues who work with climate-conscious stakeholders—they need this framing.
- Interested in leading yourself? Hit that heart button below and help my work find more leaders.
The Moment won’t last forever. But the leaders who rise to meet it? I’m betting they will.
Let’s help them get there,
Tisha
