Power Shift: 2025 Data Driving Clean Energy Decisions

Key Impact Points:

• Sustainable energy investments surged to $338B in 2024, supporting over 3 million jobs and 264 new manufacturing sites since 2022.
• Renewables and natural gas delivered 67% of U.S. electricity in 2024, while solar and wind accounted for 71% of all new power capacity additions.
• Regulatory bottlenecks threaten future growth, with 317 GW of clean energy projects awaiting grid interconnection.

U.S. Energy System Grows More Productive as Demand Rises

The 2025 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, released by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) and BloombergNEF, shows that the U.S. energy system is increasingly efficient and capable of meeting rising demand with cleaner sources.

In 2024:

• The U.S. economy grew 2.8%, while energy use rose just 0.5%.
• Energy productivity improved 2.3% year over year, continuing a 10-year trend of 29% improvement.
• Corporate renewable energy procurement hit a record 28 GW, led by tech firms, and industry consumption rose 5% over the decade.

Clean Energy Mix Now Dominates U.S. Power Generation

Renewables and natural gas powered two-thirds of the U.S. electricity supply in 2024:

• Natural gas accounted for 43%, while renewables rose to 24%, driven by wind, solar, and hydropower.
• Coal’s share fell to 15%, down from 33% a decade ago.
• Zero-emission sources – renewables and nuclear – made up 42% of the power mix.

“Wind and solar accounted for 71% of new capacity added,” with 48.4 GW of utility-scale generation and storage commissioned – the highest since 2003.

Clean Energy Investments Are Fueling U.S. Jobs and Innovation

The United States is building a globally competitive clean energy economy:

• $8 billion was invested in hydrogen, solar, wind, and battery supply chains in 2024.
• 60 new cleantech manufacturing announcements in 2024 brought the total to 264 since August 2022.
• “Jobs in sustainable energy grew 4.2 percent in 2023, more than twice the rate of the overall economy.”

Energy is also becoming more affordable. In 2024, Americans spent just 3.8% of personal expenditures on energy—near historic lows.

U.S. Emerges as Global Leader in Clean Energy Storage and Investment

Clean energy financing hit new highs:

• U.S. investment reached $338 billion in 2024 (up from $303B in 2023), second only to China’s $818B.
• “The United States commissioned a record 11.9 GW of battery storage capacity,” solidifying its status as the second-largest energy storage market globally.

Climate Risks Are Rising Alongside Emissions

Despite progress, emissions edged up 0.5% in 2024, as climate-related disasters intensified:

• “The country experienced 27 climate-related disasters… the total cost… reaching $182.7 billion.”
• Industry was the largest driver of emissions growth, accounting for 89% of the annual increase.
• Transportation remained the top emitting sector overall.

Still, the U.S. has reduced total emissions by 15.8% below 2005 levels, and power sector emissions have dropped 41%.

Policy Reforms Are Needed to Sustain Momentum

Infrastructure delays threaten clean energy deployment:

• “317 GW of new capacity applied to interconnect in 2024,” yet projects face multi-year delays due to federal permitting bottlenecks.
• On federal lands, wind and solar construction takes four years; mining permits can take up to 10.

Durable tax policy remains critical:

• “Businesses like predictability. Changing existing energy tax policy would put good-paying American jobs and competitiveness at risk.”
• Existing federal tax credits continue to drive investment across a broad range of technologies, including CCS, hydrogen, nuclear, solar, and more.

Bottom Line: America’s clean energy sector is surging—but without streamlined regulatory reform and continued federal policy support, future gains and global competitiveness are at risk.