Two of the nation’s biggest clean energy lobbying groups will soon find out whether their efforts to strengthen relationships with Republicans will save crucial policies they spent years pursuing.
The American Clean Power Association and Solar Energy Industries Association both hiked their donations to GOP candidates and political action committees this past election cycle, according to a POLITICO review. That was part of a deliberate effort by the groups representing some of the world’s largest developers and deployers of zero-emission technologies to broaden support for clean energy beyond the Democratic party.
A verdict on that strategy could come in the next few months as the Republican majorities in Congress eye potential rollbacks of the climate-focused clean energy measures in the lnflation Reduction Act enacted under President Joe Biden. President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to scrap those incentives altogether — perhaps using a sweeping budget reconciliation package that Republicans could pass without Democratic support.
“We’re going to have a fight on our hands because the national politics are going to drive people back towards their corners,” ACP CEO Jason Grumet said. “But we now have authentic, substantive, subtle, supportive relationships with Republicans as well as Democrats.”
