The Problem Solvers need your vision and your cover.
Book a 2026 briefing for your leadership team to apply the lessons of The Myth and The Moment to your most urgent strategic questions.
Over the past month I’ve introduced you to the Problem Solvers, those public servants who are caught between climate commitments and on-the-ground energy reality … and who will be some of your most important partners in building the energy future.
You now understand the world from the Problem Solvers’ desk (Part 1), the emotional reckoning the Problem Solvers face in letting go of The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition (Part 2), and how our industry can help them “get the call right” with analytic courage (Part 3).
Now comes the hard part. Welcome to Part 4—how we help the Problem Solvers approve and build the energy infrastructure that needs to get built … in spite of the way their stakeholders might feel about it.
To do so, the Problem Solvers need ingredients they can’t acquire alone. That’s where you—the oil and gas leader—come in.
Both of these things are true:
- Problem Solvers must build the energy infrastructure required to deliver the affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy that their stakeholders demand.
- In blue jurisdictions, the political risk of approving that infrastructure is still painfully and irrationally high.
You are uniquely positioned to help lower that risk. In fact, no one else can.
The situation
Even the most pragmatic Problem Solvers—the ones who recognize the end of The Myth and are ready to make realistic decisions—are still trapped in a dangerous bind: They know they need to build infrastructure that their stakeholders abhor.
Their climate-centric stakeholders don’t have to wrestle with the demise of The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition. From their vantage point, building wasn’t supposed to be necessary. The energy transition was going to take care of itself through a mix of ambitious policy, technological miracles, and market signals.
Well … that didn’t happen. In high-climate-ambition jurisdictions, the gap between the promises of The Myth and the on-the-ground demands for energy has become a political vise:
- A need to build baseload generation invites accusations of backsliding and “abandoning climate commitments.”
- A pipeline modernization for safety triggers fears of “locking in fossil fuels” or “doubling down on the fuels of the past.”
- A transmission line to connect solar to the grid sets off local backlash that can spark career-ending controversy.
So the Problem Solvers live with an impossible mandate: Build the system that The Myth said they would never have to build. And do it without inflaming the coalition that they rely on to govern.
Without a different vision—and without partners willing to stand next to them—the safe political choice for the Problem Solvers is to stall. And stall. And stall.
Until something breaks.
What the Problem Solvers need now: a vision and cover
Problem Solvers need two things that are simply not available inside their own ecosystems nor institutions.
1. A compelling, shared vision of what comes after climate politics
Problem Solvers must articulate a vision for the community’s energy system that
- transcends current polarized, ideological language
- focuses on delivering reliability + affordability + decarbonization
- acknowledges today’s constraints and needs honestly
- offers optimism rooted in what can actually be built
This is what climate leadership must be in the post-Myth era: building the infrastructure that reduces real emissions and allows society to thrive.
What does this look like in practice? Here’s what I’d like to hear three (fictional but plausible) Problem Solvers say, both to themselves and those they serve.
First, Elena Ruiz, director of a coastal state’s energy and environmental task force, needs to permit a new flexible gas peaker plant in a community that considers any new natural gas climate betrayal. How should she, as a post-Myth Problem Solver, frame this project? Something like this:
Here’s the future we can actually build: a system that keeps your lights on during heat waves, powers our growing electrified economy, and still drives emissions down every single year. This plant is not a step backward—it’s the reliability backbone that lets us safely retire older, dirtier units and integrate the wind and solar you’ve demanded. Its cost reimbursement structure is predicated on its operating fewer hours each year as renewables grow. If we want workable energy transition, we need to be honest and build the infrastructure that makes clean energy real, not theoretical.
This is how she delivers climate leadership that actually works.
Next, Marcus Fielding, a city council member in a progressive U.S. metro area, needs to approve a transmission line through a neighborhood that opposes any new infrastructure. Here’s what he could say as Problem Solver who has put The Myth behind him:
I want clean energy for our city, and clean energy requires connection, not just aspiration. This transmission line unlocks enough low-carbon power to replace the equivalent of every home furnace in our city. It’s the critical physical connection that makes our climate goals feasible. I’m committed to minimizing impacts and maximizing local benefits, but the choice we face is real: build this line or accept a future of higher costs and higher emissions.
This is the climate leadership moment where Marcus must choose reality over rhetoric.
Finally, Samantha Cho, a deputy county executive for a blue Northeastern county, needs to approve a new natural gas pipeline right of way to ease bottlenecks that are driving winter price spikes and to encourage homeowners to replace their fuel oil heaters. Here’s a way Cho might justify this pipeline to her climate-concerned constituents:
Our community deserves an energy system that doesn’t fail when temperatures drop. This pipeline isn’t about expanding fossil fuels—it’s about replacing an overstrained corridor with modern, best-in-class infrastructure. It’s the only way to decrease the fuel oil reliance and emergency natural gas imports that spike emissions and hurt families every winter. Modern infrastructure is how we stabilize costs today while we build the low-carbon system of tomorrow.
This is what responsible climate leadership looks like: solving the real problems in front of us.
These examples encapsulate the language we want Problem Solvers to use and lead with. But how do they develop this language? Not on their own!
2. Cover to act on that vision
Even the most courageous and articulate Problem Solvers will fail if they go it alone. They need a permission structure sturdy enough to support their decisions and help them withstand the inevitable opposition.
The interesting thing about this kind of cover? It doesn’t exist without intention. You have to construct it. What are the effective components of cover for Problem Solvers—effective across politics, institutions, and stakeholders?
- A shared narrative about the failures of the status quo and the need for new energy infrastructure
- A coalition that spans unexpected partners, who align on key elements (not necessarily everything)
- Visible support, from media quotes to legislative testimony to letters of support
- A sense of momentum and inevitability
Right now, Problem Solvers don’t have any of those components. But you can help them build all of them.
Not by lobbying harder. Not by insisting that the math speaks for itself. (It never does.)
Seize the day
How do you create the conditions where Problem Solvers can finally act?
- Craft language that Problem Solvers can use. Frame your own vision in terms that they can adapt and deploy.
- Do your part to bring together allies. Host roundtables. Support local think tanks conducting educational events. Share studies in digestible infographics Problem Solvers can use.
- Offer projects that allow the Problem Solver to take the win. Let regulators take credit for your projects by demanding more innovation and fewer emissions. Build in community job training. Add a local university research component so benefits are visible, local, and durable.
You can help break the stalemate left in the wake of The Myth’s collapse. When you do so, the Problem Solvers stop feeling alone with an impossible mandate.
Making the most of The Moment
Here’s how you help usher in the era where building becomes the new climate leadership:
- Forward this to three colleagues who work directly with Problem Solvers.
- Call us to review your 2026 project portfolio through the lens of coalition building.
- Order The Myth and The Moment if you haven’t yet—your team will need its frameworks.
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To making the future buildable,
Tisha
