It might be the end of the year, but at Clean Tomorrow, we’re playing the long game and building policy work that can last. Organizations like ours, that can comfortably adapt to changes in the political environment, are the most durable — and are the likeliest to produce effective and attainable policy solutions. 

Since our launch, we’ve been busy teeing up next year’s priorities, talking with the press, and meeting our fundraising targets ahead of schedule. I was able to present at Climate Week NYC and the National Clean Energy Week conference in September and have not slowed down through the end of this year.

In November, I joined my fellow women who are next-generation climate leaders at the 13th Annual C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium, co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy and their University partners. We discussed how achieving reliable and sustainable energy is non-partisan, and how energy policy encompasses everything from investing, permitting, educating, employing, building, and engaging. I’ve long enjoyed participating in the work of C3E, whose topline goal is to expand women’s participation and leadership in clean energy. It was incredible to spend two days supporting students focused on solutions and honoring both those who’ve come before us and the rising stars who are on their way.

A newer organization that has already impressively expanded its civil membership is the SEEC Institute, which launched in 2023 to help U.S. House members in the Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC) make impactful legislative decisions. We were pleased to sponsor its Solutions Summit in early December, focused on shaping clean energy policy in coming years. Clean Tomorrow Senior Director of Policy Evan Chapman and I led roundtable discussions with members of Congress on key policy issues of the day: advanced generation technologies and industrial decarbonization. And, I was fortunate to join Representative Matt Cartwright (PA-08) on a plenary panel to discuss how we move forward next year. While the conversation encompassed the costs and benefits to offensive and defensive strategies, the overall message communicated that taking a bipartisan stance on clean energy innovation and deployment will be fundamental to sustaining these important initiatives in Congress.

Hot on the summit’s heels, I just attended the Deploy24 conference, which convened the energy policy community and public and private sector leaders to strategize how to move clean energy technologies through each stage of the innovation pipeline. As I wrote just before the election, investments in innovation are crucial for our economy, for competitiveness, and for the climate. At a minimum, we need to maintain these investments every year, otherwise we risk irrecoverably losing our momentum. It was great to hear from leaders from every corner of our industry and the policy-making spectrum, and to hear from so many about the work we must continue to do.

I’m heartened that many of the energy leaders I spoke with at these events agree that it’s time to double down on the policy work that we care about, regardless of who currently holds political power. We don’t all agree on the strategy, but we share a resolve to advance policies that expand clean energy. New, outcome-focused organizations like Clean Tomorrow are well-suited to develop enduring policy solutions that accelerate innovation and the growth of clean energy.