Transitioning to a Clean Energy Future
TNC creates, implements and defends smart climate action policies and is helping accelerate the renewable energy buildout.
Americans are beginning to use more energy than before, and that trend is expected to continue. By 2035, the U.S. will need to produce 50% more electricity per year than it will in 2025. This trend is driven by a combination of new ways that electricity is being used, from electric vehicle adoption to development of new artificial intelligence data centers.
We can meet this growing demand with a wide array of reliable and affordable energy sources—including renewable options, such as wind and solar. Diversifying our energy sources will increase energy independence and abundance. It can also offer a buffer against price fluctuations, helping take the pressure off of rising energy bill costs and create a resilient energy system. To put it in numbers, we need to:
- Increase the amount of renewable energy in the U.S. by 400%
- Build at least 2.5 times the current amount of long-distance power lines to transport clean energy from where it’s generated to where it’s used
- Speed up the timelines for new clean energy projects by 50%
- Jumpstart emissions reductions in five key industries that make up 15% of all U.S. emissions
- Enable zero-emission vehicles to make up 50% of new car sales in 2030
This sounds ambitious, but we can do it and are already on our way. TNC is working on this energy transition in two ways: advancing climate action policies and accelerating the renewable energy buildout in the United States. We’re working with Indigenous Peoples and governments at the local, state and federal levels to advance new climate and clean energy policies. We’re unlocking sources of funding for a wide range of clean energy projects. We’re working with industry on pilot projects that test out new technologies. And we’re partnering with the energy industry on principles for clean energy deployment that take into consideration not just the climate but also nature and people.
All of this together is good for the planet, it’s good for our climate and it’s good for people by creating jobs and reinvigorating the domestic economy.
Our Clean Energy Goals
To achieve our climate and energy goals we need to:
-
400%
Increase the amount of renewable energy in the U.S. by 400%
-
2.5x
Build at least 2.5 times the current amount of long-distance power lines to transport clean energy from where it’s generated to where it’s used
-
50%
Speed up the timelines for new clean energy projects by 50%
-
15%
Jumpstart emissions reductions in five key industries that make up 15% of all U.S. emissions
-
50%
Enable zero-emission vehicles to make up 50% of new car sales in 2030
How We Work
Supporting Climate Action Policy
We need strong, durable clean energy and climate policies to drive large-scale transformation. That’s why we work to create, implement and defend policies that accelerate the clean energy transition.
Recent policy wins
TNC’s federal policy team and state chapters work to pass transformative policies.
In Ohio, TNC advocacy helped pass House Bill 15. This new law makes it faster, easier and cheaper to build clean energy projects on abandoned mines, landfills and industrial sites. The law will also help modernize the electric grid, remove harmful subsidies for polluting power plants, promote renewable energy development for schools and accelerate the approval of new energy generation. This law is a huge step forward for the state to expand its renewable energy generation while protecting nature and providing for people.
At the federal level, TNC worked with key legislators and constituencies to help get the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in the U.S. Congress—a once-in-a-generation opportunity to drive a clean energy transition. We then worked to defend these policies, and our efforts helped preserve or moderate changes made to some key energy provisions.
What needs to happen next
At the federal level, we work across the political spectrum to find opportunities to advance new climate and clean energy policies while defending existing laws from repeal or rollback.
We also are working to create new, ambitious climate policies at the state level. The policies we champion are ones that can be replicated across multiple states or target parts of the economy where it is harder to eliminate emissions, such as some types of manufacturing. And we work with governments and partners to defend the smart climate policies that are in place.
Accelerating the Renewable Energy Buildout
If we are going to power our lives with clean energy, then we are going to need more wind and solar power as well as new power lines to carry electricity from where it is generated to where it is used.
Americans will be using an unprecedented amount of electricity in the coming years—and it’s already starting. After two decades of steady electricity use, the United States saw demand begin to grow in 2024.
This trend is being driven by things that are good for the economy, such as increased American manufacturing, adoption of electric vehicles and growth in new industries like artificial intelligence data centers.
We know we need to meet this demand. No single type of electricity generation can do it alone—clean energy must be part of the solution.
TNC works to accelerate clean and renewable energy solutions that maximize climate, conservation and community benefits—what we call the “3Cs.” Our 3Cs solutions help make it possible to build the clean and renewable energy we need while minimizing impacts to plants, animals and people.
Recent renewable energy wins
One of the largest former coal mines in the U.S. is on track to becoming one of the biggest renewable energy centers in the country. TNC worked with Rivian Automotive Inc. to select the project, not just for its renewable energy potential, but for the benefits it could bring to the local community.
What happens next
TNC is influencing the renewable energy buildout through four pathways, each of which is guided by the 3Cs:
- Plan: Providing decision-makers and energy planners with the research and tools they need to make informed decisions about the renewable energy infrastructure buildout.
- Site: Offering successful demonstration projects, mapping tools and the best available science to steer developers, landowners and other key players toward renewable energy project sites that avoid negative impacts to nature and people.
- Buy: Influencing buyers to make renewable energy procurement decisions and support market changes that maximize benefits to the 3Cs.
- Policy: Working at the federal, state and local levels to advocate for policies that incentivize and prioritize projects that are clean, green and equitable.
Sign up to receive TNC updates and news
Learn how TNC is advancing smart climate policy and clean energy near you.
- Decade to Deliver: delivering on historic climate policies Explore More
- Mines are an untapped resource for accelerating clean energy See Mining the Sun
- Permitting reform can protect nature and fuel clean energy Modernizing permitting reform
- Clean energy siting improves outcomes for nature and people See Power of Place