Scientists say August was Earth's hottest month they've measured

By Ahn Young-joon/ The Associated Press (posted on NPR website), Sept. 10, 2026

WASHINGTON — Earth cooked to its hottest month on record in August, blowing far past a key climate threshold, due to the dangerous double whammy of human-caused climate change and a supersized El Nino, according to the European climate service Copernicus.

August's sizzle also helped push the globe and the United States to swelter through the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer scientists have measured.

Last month the world averaged 62.53 degrees Fahrenheit (16.96 degrees Celsius), which technically was one-hundredth of a degree Celsius more than the all-time global mark set in July 2023, but because that's also the uncertainty level, it's considered a tie, said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead for Copernicus.

"It is now time to stop acting surprised that our warming planet keeps getting warmer. This is occurring exactly as forecast by scientists literally decades ago," Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler said in an email. "The interesting question is not whether we will keep breaking heat records (we will), but whether we're going to do anything about it or just stand there while the climate train runs us over."

Globally, August was 1.65 degrees Celsius (nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, far exceeding the longer term 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) threshold set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The eight hottest months on record have all been from July 2023 on, according to Copernicus data.

"Our climate system is really operating well outside the range we would have expected just a decade ago," Burgess said Wednesday from a United Kingdom that has been beset with heat waves. "We've transitioned from climate being very abstract and perhaps impacting the global South or far away places to climate impacting and disrupting our daily lives with schools closing, hospitals being overwhelmed, roads melting, train lines buckling. And the reality is we will get more of these conditions that we've seen this summer."

Global monthly ocean temperatures in August tied a March 2024 all-time record for warmest month recorded, while Aug. 22 set a record for hottest day recorded in the world's seas, according to Copernicus.

An extra hot summer hits

"This summer has really been exceptional. We've seen records that existed for close to 100 years be broken, in the U.S. in particular," Burgess said.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday announced that for the first time, summer in the Lower 48 states was hotter than during the peak of the devastating Dust Bowl in 1936. June through August of 2026 in the contiguous United States averaged 74.37 degrees (23.54 degrees Celsius), nearly four tenths of a degree warmer than the mark set 90 years earlier. Globally, this past summer also tied, with 2024, for the hottest on record, according to Copernicus.

In the U.S., August smashed heat records by more than half a degree Fahrenheit, averaging 75.58 degrees (24.21 degrees Celsius) and the average daytime high was a blistering 88.56 degrees (31.42 degrees Celsius), also a record. July was similarly record hot in the U.S., erasing another long-standing Dust Bowl mark.

That records are regularly getting broken, and that August and not July which is traditionally warmer set an all-time record, are signs that human-caused climate change is accelerating, Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said.

Copernicus data goes back to 1940. NOAA data for the United States goes back to 1895 and global data, which generally matches Copernicus data but takes longer to calculate, dates back to 1880.

Fossil fuels, El Nino blamed

Several scientists said while El Nino is a factor, this natural and temporary warming of parts of the Pacific that warps and warms weather globally is nowhere as big a cause as the heat-trapping gases emitted as humans burn coal, oil and natural gas.

"While El Nino is starting to ramp up the heat, the underlying driver remains our relentless burning of fossil fuels. Climate change makes every El Nino hotter, and until we stop burning coal, oil, and gas these record-shattering months will simply keep on coming," said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London.

Burgess said El Nino generally adds only one or two tenths of a degree Celsius (two to four tenths Fahrenheit) to the global temperature with the overwhelming rest of the heat coming from the burning of fossil fuels.

This El Nino is forecast, however, to break records for strength in the coming months. And as temperatures continue to rise, heat waves, storms, floods and wildfires will get more frequent and more dangerous, said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe.

According to Hausfather, "it is increasingly likely that 2026 ends up beating 2024 as the warmest year on record, and almost certain that 2027 beats both, potentially reaching as high as 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels on the back of an unprecedentedly-strong El Nino event."

Some days may hit an even higher climate threshold, 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above mid 1800s, Burgess said.

"Until humanity stops burning colossal amount of coal, oil and gas, the pollution this causes will keep baking our planet, and extreme heat will keep smashing all-time records, killing millions and costing trillions, hitting transport and health systems, and pushing up prices for household basics like food," United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said. "This is the spiraling price of humanity's fossil fuel addiction, and the global climate crisis it is fueling."

https://www.npr.org/2026/09/10/nx-s1-5964676/scientists-august-hottest?utm_source=Daily%20on%20Energy%20091026_09/10/2026&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WEX_Daily%20on%20Energy&rid=24913499&env=4c48fcdbb12eee6826c7817244fc1960521df71996adb905afbfc4e36d0f936d

California Sues Trump Administration Over Offshore Wind Cancellation

The state is asking a court to reverse a Trump administration agreement and reinstate a planned offshore wind farm.

By Heather Knight, The New York Times, Aug. 28, 2026

In the latest salvo in California’s ongoing environmental battle with the White House, the state on Friday sued the Trump administration over its attempt to kill offshore wind farms.

Mr. Trump has long despised offshore wind power, falsely saying that it does not work and kills whales. This spring, his administration struck deals with energy companies. In exchange for refunds for what they paid for offshore wind leases, the companies agreed to use the money on oil and gas projects.

One of the deals involved a company called Golden State Wind, which was in the early stages of building a floating wind farm near Morro Bay, along California’s Central Coast. Under the agreement, the U.S. Department of the Interior said it would return $120 million the company had paid for the offshore lease in 2022, to be used on fossil-fuel projects.

Rob Bonta, the state attorney general, and the California Energy Commission on Friday sued the Trump administration and Golden State Wind, saying their agreement to forgo the wind farm jeopardized thousands of jobs and the state’s investments in the offshore wind industry.

Mr. Bonta called the deal a “backroom buyout” by the Trump administration that was intended to “line the pockets” of “Big Oil donors.”

The White House declined to comment on California’s lawsuit. A spokesperson for the Interior Department said that California had been throwing “good money at bad ideas” and that the settlements with the energy companies were voluntary and had been reviewed by the Department of Justice.

“This administration will not sit back and let reckless projects create higher utility costs, a weakened energy system and unnecessary harm to the environment,” a representative with the department wrote in an email.

Golden State Wind did not return a request for comment.

David Hochschild, chair of the California Energy Commission, said that California would continue to focus on clean energy as a way to reduce pollution and provide new jobs.

“We will not let the Trump administration’s reckless actions turn back the clock,” he said in a statement. “California’s clean energy future is worth fighting for. See you in court.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/us/politics/california-trump-offshore-wind-lawsuit.html

How Trump Is Trying to Crush California’s Environmental Policies

At least a half-dozen federal agencies have taken action against the state that has led the nation in environmental protections.

By Maxine Joselow, The New York Times, Aug. 20, 2026

The Trump administration has taken a series of extraordinary steps to attack California’s position as a national leader in environmental protection, enlisting at least a half-dozen federal agencies to undermine the state’s efforts to pivot away from fossil fuels.

The stakes are high. Because of its market muscle as the world’s fourth largest economy, California’s environmental regulations have influenced the manufacturers of automobiles and other consumer goods. And its green policies have spread to some other states in what’s known as the “California effect.”

But President Trump has marshaled the full power of the federal government to clamp down on the state’s climate initiatives. He has been vocal in his contempt for Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat and possible 2028 presidential contender whom he refers to as “Gavin Newscum.”

Mr. Newsom, a loud and pointed critic of Mr. Trump, pledged soon after the 2024 election to insulate California’s environmental policies from a second Trump administration — perhaps making the state an inviting target for a president who has been using government levers to punish perceived enemies.

There are almost too many examples to list.

Mr. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have blocked California from setting its own limits on automobile pollution, which federal law has permitted since the 1970s. The Energy Department has announced $75 million for a new coal export terminal in Oakland, Calif. The Interior Department has paid energy companies to cancel planned wind farms off the coast of California and other blue states. The president ordered a company to restart a pipeline that caused one of the state’s largest oil spills in 2015.

And just last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration signaled it could curb the power of the California Coastal Commission, a state agency that has protected the shoreline from threats like oil spills for more than half a century.

Mr. Trump’s “destructive behavior has grown significantly,” said Jerry Brown, the former four-term Democratic governor of California who made climate change a signature cause. “It’s completely against a traditional Republican doctrine of respecting states’ rights.”

The state has filed a slew of lawsuits to try to undo the administration’s actions.

“Donald Trump attacks California because we are building a future that doesn’t depend on fossil fuels,” Anthony Martinez, a spokesman for Mr. Newsom, said in an email. “This fading industry desperately attempts to tighten its grip on the world economy even as clean energy dominates, growing cheaper and faster to deploy than anything they can offer. Follow the money, and you will find the truth behind his war on California’s climate policies: this is a White House run for Big Oil, by Big Oil.”

Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration was intervening in California because state policies had led to higher energy prices and oil refinery closures, though analysts say market forces have also fueled these trends.

“Governor Newscum has continued carrying out the left’s costly and unpopular green new scam,” Ms. Rogers said in an email. “President Trump is working relentlessly to reverse the damage done by California Democrats and unleash American energy dominance.”

Richard Goldberg, a former senior counselor for the National Energy Dominance Council, which Mr. Trump created last year to coordinate energy policy, said the White House had genuine policy disagreements with California, but it also saw a political advantage in feuding with Mr. Newsom.

“I would say it’s probably a beneficial byproduct that it happens to be Newsom,” Mr. Goldberg said. “But regardless of who the governor is, California has important energy resources that are needed for the country’s national security.”

California’s 840 miles of coastline are one of its most treasured resources, drawing millions of tourists and locals annually and stretching from redwood forests in the north to palm-tree-studded beaches in the south.

In his first term, Mr. Trump largely left the coast alone, with the exception of an unsuccessful attempt to spur offshore oil and gas drilling. This time, his administration has sought to bring not only more oil rigs, but also more pipelines and possibly more rocket launches by SpaceX from a coastal military base.

In November, the Interior Department announced a draft plan to allow new oil drilling in federal waters off California for the first time in roughly four decades. The plan called for up to six oil and gas lease sales in those waters, including in an expanse off Santa Barbara where a 1969 oil spill galvanized the modern environmental movement.

Asked about the proposal at the time, Mr. Newsom rolled his eyes and called it “dead on arrival in California.” He said that the state would “absolutely” challenge the plan in court once it was finalized.

The clash over the coast was just beginning, and an offshore oil pipeline would be the next sticking point.

In March, Mr. Trump ordered the Houston-based company Sable Offshore Corp. to restart its pipeline off Santa Barbara, even though state agencies had denied permits for the project, saying it had failed to fix damage that led to a 2015 oil spill. To justify the move, the president invoked a Cold War-era law that the administration said superseded state regulations.

The law, the Defense Production Act, has typically been used in emergencies like hurricanes and the Covid-19 pandemic. In this case, the administration said the emergency was an energy shortage in California fueled by the war in Iran, which had choked global oil supplies.

Yet the administration has also paid energy companies hundreds of millions of dollars to cancel planned wind farms in the waters off California.

“It really is the definition of hypocrisy to say that we’re in a national energy emergency and we need to empower companies like Sable, but at the same time, we’re paying taxpayer dollars to not do offshore wind projects,” said Alex Katz, the executive director of the Environmental Defense Center, a nonprofit based in Santa Barbara.

Last week, the administration opened a new front in its efforts to wrest control of the coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration held a public hearing in Santa Monica, Calif., to reconsider the power of the California Coastal Commission, which for more than half a century has had the legal authority to review and object to federal actions or projects that affect coastal resources.

Mr. Trump has long complained about the commission, which once tried to stop him from erecting a 70-foot flag on his oceanfront golf course near Los Angeles. Elon Musk, a Trump ally, has also tangled with the agency over increasing the number of SpaceX rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

The review could lead to the commission losing federal certification of its programs or federal grants that account for 10 percent of its budget. If the administration succeeds, it could also set a precedent for similar actions in other coastal states.

“There could be an impact on what happens in Oregon if California no longer has this authority,” said Charles Lester, a marine science researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara and a former executive director of the coastal commission.

A Multi-State Fight

Another environmental showdown between California and the Trump administration could also reverberate far beyond the state’s borders, affecting vehicles sold across the country.

This fight dates back to the 1970s, when heavy smog choked Los Angeles. In response, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, which explicitly allowed California to set automobile pollution standards that were stricter than federal rules, as long as the state obtained waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency. The landmark law also allowed other states to adopt California’s standards.

Ever since, the waivers have helped rein in smog-forming pollutants like soot and nitrogen dioxide that can contribute to asthma and lung disease. They have also been a powerful tool for curbing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change.

Mr. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have shattered that dynamic.

Last year, Mr. Trump signed a congressional resolution to revoke a waiver that had allowed California to ban sales of new gas cars by 2035. And in June, Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, urged Congress to rescind waivers for four other emissions rules affecting everything from light trucks to lawn mowers.

California has filed multiple lawsuits to maintain its vehicle rules. At a hearing on Wednesday, a Justice Department attorney argued that the state lacked standing to sue over the four additional waivers because Congress hadn’t yet acted on them. A federal judge will soon decide that question.

The outcome of these legal battles could dictate the types of vehicles available at dealerships nationwide, said Casey Katims, the executive director of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors working on climate policy. He noted that 11 other states have pledged to follow California’s lead in banning gas car sales by 2035, representing more than 40 percent of the U.S. vehicle market.

“Attempts to block climate progress in California,” he said, “don’t live just in California.”

Brad Plumer contributed reporting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/climate/trump-california-climate.html?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20260823&instance_id=180811&nl=climate-forward&regi_id=66704053&segment_id=225291&user_id=97eb24ff9121d1a70f01fac05f86ea1b

How the hard reality of climate change hit Europe's economy this summer

By Balazs Koranyi, Reuters, August 10, 2026

FRANKFURT - For anyone in Europe who still thought climate change was a problem for future generations, this summer's sweltering heatwaves have brought home the reality that its costly and life-altering economic impacts have already arrived.

Record heat and droughts this summer - which scientists say are exacerbated ​by global warming - have wreaked havoc in power production, shipping and public health systems, while this wildfire season is on track to be Europe's biggest ever, opens new tab.

Together, the hit to the region's economy can already be ‌measured in the hundreds of billions of euros, economists and academics estimate. But they warn this is just the beginning, as costs are set to rise faster than temperatures.

Climate is changing more rapidly in Europe than on any other continent and the damage is already stretching public finances, setting off wild swings in inflation, redrawing the tourism map, and forcing the bloc to rethink how power is produced and how goods are transported.

"What makes 2026 particularly worrying from an economic perspective is that there are multiple episodes of extreme events," said University of Mannheim economist ​Sehrish Usman.

"Take heatwaves, droughts, wildfires... these events are taking place at the same time and mostly in the same regions, compounding their impact," she said.

RECORD ECONOMIC DAMAGE FROM HEAT

Temperatures hit records in June and July, and the ​economic damage will likely exceed all previous marks, economists say.

Traffic on the Rhine and the Danube rivers, key cargo arteries, is severely limited because of low water levels, more ⁠than a half dozen nuclear generators have shut or curtailed production due to cooling difficulties. Agricultural yield estimates have been cut with crops harvested late, such as maize and sunflower, suffering a 6-7% loss already in July.

Heat curtails human productivity and ​has already claimed tens of thousands of lives, with Germany alone reporting more than 10,000 heat-related deaths.

Meanwhile, the costs of the emergency response, like fighting fires or curtailing power use, further stretch budgets.

ING estimates that the halt of traffic on the Rhine ​alone will lower the GDP of Germany, the world's third-largest economy, by 0.3 percentage points this year, while Hungary's MBH Bank sees a 0.1 percentage point GDP hit for every week the country's largest nuclear generator is offline.

Allianz, the German insurer, estimates the two-week June heatwave alone will cut the GDP of Europe by 0.3 percentage points, and climate change will shave 5-7% off growth by 2030 for the most exposed economies like Spain, France and Italy.

"The total bill for this year will be much larger," said Hazem Krichene, an economist at Allianz. "This figure ​doesn’t account for the fires, droughts, different flood events or the expected El Niño."

Given that the euro zone is expected to grow just 1% this year, the hit is sizable.

Yet Usman says the full extent of the economic damage will ​only be felt several years down the line.

"You'd expect the damage to be largest in the year an extreme event happens and then to fade but we find the opposite," Usman said. "The economic impact grows over the following years because the extreme weather set off ‌a chain of ⁠slow economic consequences."

SOUTHERN EUROPE TO SUFFER FALLING TOURISM AND RISING INFLATION

Southern Europe could take the biggest hit as temperature spikes are the largest there, cutting tourism income, exacerbating crop failures and inducing outward migration.

"Can you see tourists marching through southern Italy or Spain in 45 degrees? I can't. So, I think the nature of tourism will change," ING economist Carsten Brzeski said.

The south may get more year-round tourists but summer peaks will drop as vacationers move north, hitting the southern hospitality industry, Brzeski argued.

The south will also take a bigger food price hit from extreme weather, complicating life for the European Central Bank, which is already struggling to keep inflation at target.

"You see bigger effects of extreme temperatures on food prices in places that are already ​hotter, so if you're in Southern Europe, you'll see ​a bigger effect," said Maximilian Kotz, a researcher at ⁠the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.

Extreme heat in 2022 lifted euro zone inflation by 0.34 percentage points via higher food prices, with the south taking a disproportionate hit, Kotz estimated.

Meanwhile, a halt in river transport is making it harder for fuel to reach parts of Europe, widening regional price differences.

HEAT STRAINS ON BUDGETS TO PUT PRESSURE ON ECB

"The fiscal consequences fall most heavily on ​the economies least able to absorb them," Allianz said in a research note.

Reductions in annual tax revenue from lost output could reach 1.8% in France, 1.3% in Italy and ​Spain as progressive tax systems mean ⁠revenues fall faster than output, it estimates.

Business profit margins will also decline, depressing investment and exacerbating the economic loss.

Costs meanwhile surge, both because governments have to fund the emergency response and must invest, such as in future-proofing power generation or transportation routes.

"A key concern is that countries still rely far too much on ad hoc emergency response, which is both expensive and also often quite inefficient," said Heather Grabbe, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank.

But investors may push back if governments try to spend more. ⁠Debt levels are ​already high - especially in France and Italy - and countries need to invest in defence and the green energy transition.

The dilemma could draw in the ​ECB, which bought up trillions of euros worth of countries' debt in the past decade to keep borrowing costs depressed when inflation was too low.

"With such a long list of spending needs, the trend will be towards higher government debt," ING's Brzeski said. "This will then mean pressure on the ECB ​to step in and do more quantitative easing, if there is a sudden selloff in bond markets."

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/how-hard-reality-climate-change-hit-europes-economy-this-summer-2026-08-10/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&utm_term=081026&lctg=63da3ddf6bb4e85305091e58&user_email=5ed957ca1eefc49380b1b0c0e01fd14feff0e0a2c8584e0cf002bd0dc0c874ef

Climate's Compounding Financial Toll Is Becoming Harder to Ignore

By Justin Worland, Time magazine, July 18, 2026

It’s felt all but impossible to escape the reality of our changing climate this past month, from extreme heat at London Climate Action Week to wildfire smoke across the U.S. northeast and midwest. While each individual event is dramatic in its own right, I’ve been struck by the breadth. Everywhere seems to be undergoing its own unique climate event at the same time. 

In many conversations, climate change gets boiled down to individual events, or even just the simple sum of multiple events. But the impacts this summer offer a useful reminder that it’s not so simple. While economies may be able to absorb one climate shock, the risks grow when they accumulate and occur across geographies and assets simultaneously. You might call it “death by a thousand cuts.”

Already, this bludgeoning has become visible in insurance markets. Insurance is an obvious place for these challenges to show up first. Insurers price based on short-term risk and can’t defer a loss the way an equity investor can, so they either raise prices or exit the market. We’ve already seen those in the most at-risk markets, including both Florida and California. 

But insurance is not alone. We’re starting to see indicators of other, similar slow-moving financial disasters. Earlier this month, the Bank of England quietly said that climate change was creating a spending pressure on governments, contributing to growing sovereign debt loads. Last month, the International Monetary Fund warned that climate disasters were creating an “impossible trilemma” for countries. Disasters drive countries to take on more debt, making it harder to fund the adaptation necessary to prepare, and then face higher default risk.  

This is a dangerous cycle with implications for investors and businesses across the economy. Sovereign debt flows through to the rest of the economy. Too much of it leads to higher interest rates for businesses, lower private investment, and lower growth. One disaster, even a record one, can be absorbed. The danger is when they all happen at once, and then continue to happen. A never-ending string of extreme events threatens economic havoc in a way one event doesn’t.

Thus far, capital markets more broadly have been slow to respond to this threat for a variety of reasons. Climate risk is difficult to model and plays out over long time-periods. Meanwhile, investors discount future risks and prioritize quick returns. And, importantly, they generally expect that events will be non-correlated and therefore easier to absorb.   

This view may change. The Bank of England warned last December of the possibility of a climate Minsky moment, where assets reprice rapidly due to climate shock. It’s also possible that repricing happens gradually over time. In any event, the cumulative effect of concurrent disasters should not be taken lightly. Markets often ignore risks when they feel isolated, or idiosyncratic, but once they are understood as systemic they are priced. 

For many who work in climate, this season of extremes has revived the longstanding prediction that the effects of rising global temperatures will help drive a resurgence in concern among policymakers and the general public. I hope so, but I’m not so sure. While some studies have suggested extreme weather events can drive support for climate action, many others have shown minimal effect. And we’ve also seen the opposite effect: climate events that triggered populist backlash led by anti-climate politicians.

While it’s hard to predict how exactly these events will shape public engagement on climate, markets have a simpler logic to them. Climate related events are exacting a growing cost. And it’s now clear both that those costs will grow and that economies aren’t fully prepared. If and when investors look at the same information and determine that those costs aren’t fully accounted for, asset prices will take a hit.

https://time.com/article/2026/07/17/climate-impacts-economic-risk/

A renewables playbook for the rest of Trump 2.0

By Ben Geman, Axios, July 8, 2026

A top renewables and storage group sees openings for progress on Capitol Hill as it looks to build more nationwide power on the political right.

Why it matters: Trump officials are targeting wind power, which the president overtly despises, and last year's GOP budget law phased out tax credits for wind and solar generation projects.

Driving the news: American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet on Tuesday briefed reporters on the group's strategy — on and off Capitol Hill — in the near and longer term.

A few highlights of its quest for "policy durability"...

📃 Permitting: A big bipartisan deal is a top priority in this Congress — and one Grumet acknowledges is looking dicey.

• "We think the window of opportunity there is starting to close," he said, noting that a bipartisan Senate proposal from leaders of the environment and energy committees has yet to surface.

• Grumet's not especially hopeful about a lame duck deal.

💵 Tax policy: In the next Congress — assuming Democrats win control of at least one chamber — the group sees openings for new credits that support transmission projects, and improving incentives for domestic manufacturing.

• "We look forward to the opportunity, as we move into what we anticipate is divided government, to restore some of the bipartisan support for this industry," Grumet said.

• Boosting transmission would help ensure the grid is adequate for all energy technologies, he said.

🚢 Tariffs and trade: "We think there is growing discomfort in the Congress about the way tariffs are being used," Grumet said.

• There may be opportunities for Congress to make tariff policy less volatile, he said.

💪 Building power among conservatives: The group has been expanding its communications and messaging.

One channel is the pro-solar "American Energy First" coalition of companies created in late 2025 that's affiliated with the group. It includes "clean energy companies that have worked together to activate a network of conservative thought leaders and digital influencers," Grumet said.

• Work to date included a poll conducted by former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway's firm.

• American Clean Power created a separate new grassroots effort last year called PowerVotes that aims to mobilize conservative support for permitting reform and state-level project siting work.

• And it's expanding efforts to build support across the political spectrum via platforms like TikTok, Substack and Instagram.

What's next: American Clean Power will help a group of member companies launch a major new consumer outreach campaign this fall about the benefits of clean energy.

• "It's really the first time that the industry is putting significant resources behind that kind of consumer engagement, consumer awareness," Grumet said.

https://www.axios.com/2026/07/08/american-clean-power-renewables-strategy-trump