Advanced Search
EESI engaged with a record 83% of all Congressional offices during the 118th Congress. Staff working in the offices of 357 representatives and 91 senators (including 250 Democrats, 194 Republicans, and four Independents) had used EESI resources by the end of 2024. The previous high of 71% was set in 2023.
Congressional education highlights included our best-attended briefing of the year, Unpacking the Fifth National Climate Assessment, with a live audience of 271 and featuring recorded introductory remarks from Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.). Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk spoke at the second-most attended briefing of 2024, Energy Earthshots: The Frontier of Climate Innovation, which had 246 attendees. Reps. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) provided recorded introductory remarks in support of geothermal energy and offshore wind, respectively, at the start of the briefing. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) conversed with EESI President Daniel Bresette during a 30-minute fireside chat at the start of our briefing about carbon dioxide removal policy.
EESI is a leading advocate for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP), which provides rural electric cooperatives and other eligible borrowers with zero-percent loans to capitalize on-bill financing programs for energy efficiency, beneficial electrification, and other clean energy measures. EESI published an article about the economic impacts of RESP in rural areas. An analysis conducted by economist and EESI Advisory Board member John A. “Skip” Laitner found that RESP created 700 net direct, indirect, and induced jobs in rural areas through 2023 and is on track to sustain about 15,000 jobs by 2040 if Congress provides adequate funding levels.
EESI became a 1% for the Planet Environmental Partner, which means it is eligible for donations from companies that have committed 1% of their sales to Environmental Partners. Companies can join 1% for the Planet and designate EESI as their Environmental Partner of choice. EESI was nominated by a Sustaining Partner—an EESI donor who gives monthly. A nomination by a current 1% for the Planet Member is the only way new Environmental Partners may join the network.
EESI also earned its 15th Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most trusted independent charity evaluator. A Four-Star rating is the highest possible rating an organization can achieve. EESI earned a notable 98% score and was deemed a “Give with Confidence” charity.
EESI published four popular fact sheets in 2024. Proposals to Reduce Fossil Fuel Subsidies, one of our most-cited publications, highlighted that fossil fuel health impacts and environmental degradation are estimated to cost the United States $754 billion each year. Climate Jobs focused on the more than 4.2 million jobs across the clean energy and climate resilience sectors. An all-new fact sheet about direct pay showcased the Inflation Reduction Act provisions that make clean energy upgrades more affordable for tax-exempt entities like schools and houses of worship. EESI released an issue brief about PFAS “forever chemicals,” which contribute to multiple negative health outcomes for exposed populations. EESI also updated 12 of our Farm Bill side-by-sides, which compared the House-approved version of a new Farm Bill to existing law for key programs that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
EESI helped the Collective Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), a nonprofit green bank serving Colorado, and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc., a nonprofit cooperative power supplier, secure a $75 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP). This was the largest RESP loan ever awarded by USDA. The loan was used to capitalize a new on-bill financing program, Electrify and Save, that could potentially benefit more than one million utility customers across Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. EESI helped connect CCEF and Tri-State, provided resources like templates and sample loan applications, and leveraged our extensive network of rural utilities to provide best practices for reaching low- and moderate-income households.
EESI was regularly featured in media coverage about climate change topics. EESI President Daniel Bresette was featured twice—once about clean energy jobs and a second time about fossil fuel subsidies—on CNBC, the second-largest business news channel in the United States. He was quoted in The Wall Street Journal, also on oil and gas subsidies, and his letter to the editor about climate resilience and adaptation was published in The Washington Post. He was interviewed on National Public Radio’s Marketplace about the U.N. climate summit and quoted in Inc. magazine about a national green bank. EESI’s work was cited on ABC News, Fox Weather, Bloomberg (three times), and in Forbes.
EESI’s podcast, The Climate Conversation, passed the major milestone of more than 10,000 streams. Seasons 7 and 8 featured conversations with climate policy leaders from the United States and abroad, including Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), who joined us to discuss climate resilience and environmental justice in Virginia; Green Climate Fund Deputy Executive Director Henry Gonzalez, who explained why Congress should care about international climate finance; and author Jay Hakes, who recapped the history of climate change science in the White House. We also explored topics like solar-covered water canals in Arizona, reflective surfaces that send sunrays back into space and cool down our cities, and wine industry sustainability commitments.
EESI provided policymakers with extensive coverage of the COP29 international climate negotiations that took place in Baku, Azerbaijan. We hosted three Congressional briefings in the lead-up to the U.N. climate summit: what to expect from the negotiations, U.S.-China relations, and methane emission reductions. At COP29 in Baku, we organized two press conferences, co-hosted a briefing about wildfire-related greenhouse gas emissions, and ran three calls to connect Congressional staff to on-the-ground experts. Over the course of the two weeks of negotiations, we published 11 issues of our comprehensive daily newsletter, COP29 Dispatch.
EESI launched a new briefing series, Resilient and Healthy Rivers, that began with panel discussions about the Mississippi River and Tennessee River. We also examined the future of tens of thousands of obsolete, non-power-generating dams in the United States in our Dams in Every District briefing that featured former Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.) and was presented in partnership with American Rivers. The National Hydropower Association also presented industry priorities on a panel about renewable energy at the 27th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum.
EESI celebrated 40 years of advancing climate solutions with an extensive article series that documented our origins and highlighted some of our key accomplishments. One of EESI’s co-founders, former U.S. Rep. Richard L. “Dick” Ottinger, explained how EESI emerged during the rise of environmental awareness in Congress. EESI Board Chair Jared Blum reflected on EESI’s outsized impact and influence throughout the years. EESI President Daniel Bresette contemplated our past, and also looked ahead at what comes next. Our articles also described EESI’s close connection to Congress, longstanding devotion to climate science, work helping rural communities save energy and money, and early focus on resilience.
EESI and hundreds of our closest friends and supporters celebrated our 40th anniversary with a big party in the Library of Congress’s Madison Hall. It was an opportunity to bring people together from across the long history of the organization and redouble our efforts to advance science-based climate solutions to ensure a sustainable, resilient, and equitable world. At the party, Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) offered remarks about EESI and their climate priorities. Rep. McClellan also provided us with a Congressional Record statement in honor of EESI’s four decades of Congressional education, as did Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Reps. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.). Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) gave a floor speech in honor of EESI’s 40 years of climate policy work.
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 climate solutions
Top-Rated Climate Nonprofit – 4-Star Charity