For Immediate Release
July 11, 2025
ICYMI: Washington Post Op-Ed from C2ES President Nat Keohane Suggests Path Forward for Clean Energy Advocates
Following passage of the budget reconciliation bill, the message is simple:
“it’s the clean economy, stupid”
WASHINGTON—Today in an op-ed published by the Washington Post, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) President Nat Keohane laid out a potential path forward for clean energy advocates following significant losses for the sector in the budget reconciliation law.
The headlines were clear; the law eliminates tax credits for electric vehicles and a wide range of other climate-friendly technologies and drastically shortens the timeline for wind and solar developments to receive the tax credits. These changes will result in GDP loss in the billions and job loss in the millions over the next ten years, according to C2ES and Greenline Insights modeling.
Recognizing these actions will deeply undermine efforts to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that are dangerously heating the planet, Keohane makes the case that there are more nuanced dynamics at play. Key clean-energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act were preserved – despite united Republican opposition to that act when it passed in 2022. Over the course of debate, over 40 House Republicans and nearly a dozen Republican Senators voiced support for clean energy provisions.
From Keohane’s Washington Post op-ed:
“The lesson for climate and clean energy advocates is not to write off Republicans, doubling down on partisan politics. To the contrary, the budget bill fight shows that we can win broad support for policies that advance climate goals, even among Republicans, when we demonstrate how they will bring tangible benefits to local economies and livelihoods.
“In sum, climate advocates should consider a twist on the familiar refrain in politics: It’s the clean economy, stupid.”
Read the full op-ed from the Washington Post here.
To speak with Nat Keohane or a C2ES expert, contact Tim Carroll at press@c2es.org.
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