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Water-cooled computing systems in a data center. Credit: ECMWF Data Center.
The impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) and the proliferation of data centers were hot topics last year, so we prioritized briefings and articles on these issues. Congressional staff have been asking EESI to provide more resources on AI and data centers because constituents across the country continue to contact their representatives about local data centers. More than 286 people—mostly Hill staff, federal officials, businesspeople, and reporters—attended or watched EESI’s September 2025 briefing, Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Energy and the Environment, which featured Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.).
Electricity demand from data centers is expected to reach 130 gigawatts by 2030—enough to power almost 114 million homes for one year. On top of that, data centers are thirsty (a large one can consume as much water as a city of 50,000 people). Our article on the water usage of data centers is our most popular ever, with more than 500,000 views and counting. Our resources on data centers continue to be cited by the media multiple times per week, given the massive attention on this issue.
To meet the needs of policymakers struggling to keep up with the whirlwind of the Trump Administration, EESI responded with a new resource: online-only, 30-minute Rapid Readout briefings. Our first Readout was about the benefits of ENERGY STAR®, a massively successful bipartisan energy efficiency program that quickly came under threat from the Administration.
Considering the massive attention given to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, our second Readout was on the budget reconciliation process that was used to pass it, so our viewers could learn about this crucial topic. We also covered the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which the Trump Administration had threatened to shutter at a time when communities need federal help more than ever, given increasing extreme weather across the country.
Our final Rapid Readout of 2025 highlighted what Congress needed to know about November’s UN climate summit, following the Administration's withdrawal from global climate negotiations. The Rapid Readouts were very well received by our Congressional audience and others who rely on EESI to provide timely, accessible, practical, and relevant information.
EESI's on-bill financing (OBF) program, which helped rural electric cooperatives and public utilities set up affordable energy efficiency financing programs for their members and customers, wound down last year after a very successful 16 years. The program ended with a bang: EESI helped Great River Energy—a large transmission and generation cooperative in rural Minnesota—submit an application for a $50 million Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) loan. If approved, this would be the second-largest RESP loan ever, following a record $75 million loan that EESI helped facilitate in 2024 for Colorado's Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association.
Colorado continued to be an OBF “hot spot” in 2025, as Tri-State's Electrify and Save on-bill financing program reached a major milestone: $1 million in financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and heat pump upgrades for rural communities in Colorado. EESI also submitted expert written testimony to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in support of on-bill financing to benefit people across Colorado.
Though our OBF technical assistance has ended, RESP will continue to be a top focus for EESI in our policymaker education and advocacy.
The transportation sector is responsible for about 29% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it a prime target for curbing climate emissions and making communities safer, healthier, and quieter. In the lead-up to the next surface transportation reauthorization bill, which funds federal highway, safety, transit, and passenger rail programs, EESI held a briefing series on the role of these federal transportation and infrastructure investments in strengthening communities, increasing economic opportunity, building resilience, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The briefings focused on how a bipartisan surface transportation bill could emerge, the nexus of public health and transportation, the importance of public transit and rail, and how to make the highway system more sustainable.
Though EESI has long worked on sustainable transportation options, the briefing series also prompted EESI to publish a brand new overview of sustainable transportation on its website. The overview covers cars, trucks, airplanes, public transit, freight and passenger rail, and shipping—as well as walking, scooter-riding, and biking.
EESI received a 100% score from Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most trusted independent charity evaluator, in 2025. The perfect score was based on an analysis of EESI's accountability and finance, culture and community, and leadership and adaptability. EESI qualified for its 18th Four-Star Rating, the highest possible, because of its top score. EESI also earned a 2025 Platinum Seal of Transparency on its Candid GuideStar profile and was named a Top-Rated Nonprofit by GreatNonprofits for the 15th time. All of these recognitions validated EESI’s unwavering dedication to outstanding nonprofit performance, impact, and good stewardship of donor investments.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) speaking at EESI's briefing on insurance in the era of climate change.
Our top briefing of 2025, Risky Business: Insurance in the Era of Climate Change, boasted a whopping 318 live attendees, mostly Hill staff, federal officials, businesspeople, and reporters. It featured remarks from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a climate champion. He spoke on the need for Congress to protect communities from the impacts of climate change. Congress has a key role in bolstering the long-term resilience, investability, and insurability of U.S. communities. Insurance premiums have increased by an average of 21% since 2015, and almost 67% of U.S. homes are underinsured. With climate change exacerbating extreme weather, insufficient insurance poses an ever greater threat to the resilience and recovery of communities affected by climate disasters. EESI highlighted that the private sector plays a crucial role, too: new insurance products, such as parametric insurance and climate endorsements, can help communities become more resilient.
The media need fact-based, nonpartisan resources more than ever. EESI helped to meet that need, earning a record 178 media mentions in 2025, more than twice as many as in 2024 and 50% more than our previous record in 2021. The New York Times, Associated Press, USA Today, NBC, National Public Radio’s Marketplace, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, BNN Bloomberg, Fast Company, The Christian Science Monitor, and many other outlets cited EESI’s content and staff.
Almost two-thirds of our 2025 media hits resulted from our new resources on the environmental impacts of data centers. In addition to policymakers, media outlets and the public found those resources extremely useful. Media outlets, including national media outlets like the New York Times, have primarily cited two EESI articles, "Data Centers and Water Consumption” and “Data Center Energy Needs Could Upend Power Grids and Threaten the Climate.”
Every two years, a new Congress convenes—and its many new members and staff need lots of resources. EESI responds by producing a Congressional Climate Camp briefing series to help explain climate and legislative essentials. In 2025, our four-part Congressional Climate Camp covered climate scenario modeling, the budget, reconciliation, and appropriations process, clean manufacturing in America, and the prospects of a bipartisan surface transportation bill. Three of the four briefings in the series had more than 100 individuals in attendance. Understanding the Budget, Reconciliation, and Appropriations was our most popular briefing of the series, with 194 live attendees, including many Hill staff working in offices on both sides of the aisle.
While organizing these briefings, EESI also met with 109 Republican and Democratic Congressional offices to introduce our work and learn about their priorities and concerns. Many staff shared their desire to learn more about wildfire management, the energy demand of data centers, grid resilience and permitting reform, and the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits. These priorities guided our educational efforts for the rest of the year.
The American public needs a reliable, flexible grid that can accommodate distributed renewable energy. The clean energy transition also depends on access to critical minerals required for essential technologies. Congressional staff called on EESI to help them understand the range of solutions available to meet these challenges. Our briefing, Powering Up: Improving Energy Grid Reliability and Resilience to Lower Energy Bills, showcased experts who shared policy solutions to meet the reliability, resilience, and affordability challenges facing the U.S. energy grid. Our popular annual briefing on the latest edition of the Sustainable Energy Factbook, held in partnership with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, examined the U.S. energy transition and how it could be accelerated. The 28th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum centered on relevant discussions, including Smart Home, Green Home; Meeting Energy Demand; Next-Generation Generation; and Securing America’s Energy Supply. We also published a popular new issue brief, Critical Minerals and the U.S. Clean Energy Transition, which has been viewed by more than 8,100 people (and counting).
A generous anonymous benefactor established a new endowment in EESI’s name inspired by our vision for a sustainable, resilient, and equitable world. The endowment will support graduate students at George Washington University's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. Master’s degree candidate Amelia Lindsay-Kaufman (pictured) was the first recipient of the new Environmental and Energy Study Institute Graduate Fellowship.
As part of its commitment to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, EESI launched a scholarship for Future Climate Leaders in November 2021. Last year, EESI awarded $4,000 each to Ayomide Adekoya of Howard University, Thurston Brown of Virginia State University, and Sulaiman Mathew-Wilson of Howard University to help them fund their ongoing studies in climate, energy, and environmental fields.
As an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that receives no Congressional funding, EESI is deeply grateful to all our donors who make these achievements possible! Without donors, these achievements simply would not take place. Please see our funder page to learn more about our funders or click here to make a gift to support this work.
Advancing science-based solutions for a sustainable, resilient, and equitable world
Top-Rated Climate Nonprofit – 4-Star Charity