JENNA OUTCALT
Staff Writer
The United States’ climate policy has seen no shortage of changes in the past decade. Now, climate and technology journalist Clint Wilder is asking whether the U.S. is losing its edge in global clean energy leadership.
“The short answer is yes,” Wilder said. “But there’s some nuance to it.”
Wilder will speak at 12:30 p.m. today in the Alumni Hall Ballroom for Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative. He will discuss the relationship between clean energy, economics and politics.
Wilder covers clean energy technology and has co-authored two books on the subject with Ron Pernick. Wilder said although he is not necessarily a tech writer, he loves the business elements of technology.
“I covered the birth of the World Wide Web and how it just changed everything, and it was exciting and fascinating and I loved it,” he said. “But I’ve always been an environmentalist, so the time came when I wanted to do something that’s … closer to my heart.”
Wilder said he will start by setting the scene of clean energy technology both in the U.S. and around the world.
“A really good news story is that solar and wind are the cheapest and the fastest to build sources of new energy, and they are in fact far and away the most new energy that is being built,” Wilder said.
Wilder pointed out the “big contrast” between the current state of clean energy and the Inflation Reduction Act passed under former President Joe Biden in 2022, which made clean energy “a cornerstone of our economy, and particularly, our manufacturing.”
“It was called climate policy, but I think that was kind of misleading,” he said. “It was really an attempt to shore up, even restore, U.S. manufacturing capability — specifically for clean technologies.”
Wilder explained that policies like this also encouraged other governments to follow suit.
“When the IRA was rolling out and drawing investment from other countries, some of those other countries were saying, ‘Damn, America has a really aggressive policy on this. We got to get on this thing, and we want investments here too,’” Wilder said.
Although he acknowledged the IRA was not perfect, Wilder said it created an exciting new investment in the U.S. from “companies and investors from all over the world.”
“I think that’s what I enjoy most, seeing those transformations,” Wilder said, “which is why it’s been so hard since 2025 to watch what’s happened.”
Wilder said during his lecture, he will look at some of the projects that were beginning to ramp up before President Donald Trump passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“[The act] basically wiped all of it out. Some things stayed a little bit; some of the incentives that were in place to build wind and solar were left in place, but for only one more year, whereas under the IRA [they were] 20 years out,” he said. “And the effect has been pretty devastating.”
Wilder said clean energy is cheap and good for the market, but without the federal government’s support, it remains an open question who will build it.
“It could turn around, but it’s very hard to once all these supply chains get established and everything; it’s hard to turn that on a dime and restore it,” he said. “It’s basically not a pretty picture when you look at the federal level.”
Wilder emphasized that clean energy should not be attached to partisan issues, as it is the most fiscally responsible path forward.
“You want to keep the rates as low as you can, but that’s not what’s happening. [The] federal government is reviving the coal industry, which is expensive. The utilities don’t even want to keep these old coal plants going. They’re inefficient. They’re very polluting, as we know,” Wilder said. “There’s an inherent bias against renewables, regardless of the free market. And that’s disappointing, for sure.”
However, Wilder said some places are stepping up to fill the gap in the U.S.
“The good news is, if you look at the state level and some cities as well, there are very progressive policies that are incentivizing clean energy use and clean energy manufacturing,” he said.
Wilder said even if it is not feasible to transition to 100% clean energy, the percentage should still be higher than it is now, especially with growing energy demands due to new technologies.
“We need a lot of energy, especially now with data centers and electric cars needing electricity from the grid, so what they call an all-of-the-above strategy makes sense … but you want to do it in the most cost-effective way,” he said.
Wilder said even though the U.S. had lost its edge in clean energy, “another pivot is certainly possible,” especially as changes in state and federal leadership occur.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that we can change and head in the right direction again,” he said.
