As the end of the year and Giving Tuesday approach, you might be looking for the charitable groups that offer the greatest impact. Climate-focused nonprofits abound, but which efforts provide the most “bang for your buck”?
That is the question we sought to answer when founding Clean Tomorrow. Which policies could reduce emissions today? What is possible to achieve in the near-term with bipartisan support – not years down the line if the winds change? What research will drive real-world change and not just be lost in the internet void?
These strategic questions led us to create Clean Tomorrow’s two core programs: restoring American leadership in federal clean energy innovation and improving state siting policy. With the right investments, these two issue areas stand to contribute to a golden age of American cleantech innovation and multiply the number of clean energy projects built across the United States – strengthening U.S. energy security, boosting global economic competitiveness, and reducing carbon pollution.
In this blog, dive into the impact your donation can make on these key issue areas:
Innovation to Unlock the Future of Energy
The federal government has invested in energy innovation for more than a century. Inventions like energy-efficient LED lights, turbines for wind power, and electric vehicles all were developed with the support of government funding. America has always been a nation of invention and industry, and now more than ever, new technology is key to helping us reduce waste, generate more power from renewable sources, and reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors.
But we’re falling behind. Funding for energy RD&D as a share of the U.S. economy peaked half a century ago, and countries like China have since surpassed us. Adjusted for GDP, the United States is now 13th in the world in innovation spending – far behind our global competitors. And we’re facing an immediate cliff. Major federal funding is set to expire at the end of this year.
Clean Tomorrow’s Re-Energizing America initiative has crunched the numbers, and we need a federal investment of $25 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy’s research, development, and demonstration programs by 2030 to adequately meet climate goals. That’s less than 0.4% of federal spending – achievable and impactful.
So what can we do? We need policy solutions, research, and education that can help policymakers and their staff write and pass well-designed legislation. Clean Tomorrow is working with industry, cleantech entrepreneurs, national labs, and policymakers in Congress and the Administration to identify how to most strategically allocate and distribute federal funding to catalyze the most exponential impact.
Deploying Clean Energy Now Through State-Level Siting Reforms
Those looking to help more clean energy projects get built should see siting policy as a holy grail opportunity. Supporting individual projects is good, but aiding the development of effective state siting rules helps dozens of projects break ground at once. Talk about exponential impact.
This is because over the past two years, the center of gravity around clean energy deployment has moved to the states, where 25% of counties have de facto bans on clean energy projects. Clean Tomorrow’s research revealed that hundreds of clean energy siting and permitting bills were introduced across 40 states in 2026. Thanks to the efforts of education and advocacy across the country, the most restrictive bills failed.
In 2027, every single state will have a legislative session. Siting experts and advocates around the country are utilizing the resources they have to meet this narrow window of opportunity. We can see the preparations in real time: Clean Tomorrow’s siting bill tracker updates weekly and has been viewed more than 1,400 times since its launch.
So what can we do? We need policy solutions, research, and education that can help state policymakers and their staff write and pass siting bills that maximize benefits for communities, the environment, and the grid – rather than banning clean energy projects outright. Clean Tomorrow’s Siting Solutions Project is working with policy experts, developers, and energy offices in states across the country to identify where siting laws are adding obstacles to deployment – and provide recommendations for how these laws can be improved.
Innovation and siting represent two opportunities we have today to implement positive change through good policy. We have the expertise, we have the strategy, and we have the momentum.
With your support, we can make progress today – for a cleaner tomorrow.