A team of former climate policy specialists who were part of Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy group have formed a new charitable organisation known as the Clean Economy Project, or CleanEcon. This initiative aims to transform ambitious policy goals into actual clean power infrastructure across the United States.
Earlier this year, Breakthrough Energy decided to disband its policy teams in both the United States and Europe, largely due to the slim chances of influencing climate legislation during the Trump administration. Instead of dispersing, a core group of these professionals chose to establish an independent organisation focused on delivering faster, tangible progress in clean energy deployment.
CleanEcon operates with around ten team members, some working part-time, and is financially supported by a confidential group of over ten donors, including philanthropists and venture capitalists. The combination of policy insight and private sector knowledge positions the organisation well for pragmatic action.
Aliya Haq, previously the vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy at Breakthrough Energy for nearly six years, now serves as president of CleanEcon. The organisation has three key priorities: expediting the construction of energy projects, fostering innovation to lower costs, and reducing risks for private investment in clean industries.
The group believes that clean energy technologies are poised to become more affordable than fossil fuels in the near term. Their emphasis is on removing practical obstacles such as complex permitting, regulatory hurdles, and financing challenges that slow the transition to clean energy. Rather than traditional advocacy alone, they focus on the execution and implementation of projects.
CleanEcon’s work involves lobbying, coalition-building, connecting policymakers with innovative clean tech startups, and addressing infrastructure and market challenges. This comes at a time when the United States faces rising energy demands and costs, making climate solutions both urgent and economically strategic.
Backed by a multimillion-dollar budget, the organisation’s board includes senior figures such as Rich Powell, CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association, and Mike Boots, former executive vice president at Breakthrough Energy, highlighting the initiative’s strong foundation in both policy and business expertise.
“America’s economic edge will be built or lost on energy. We built the grid that powered the industrial age. To lead in the next century we need a system built not for the past, but for the speed, scale, and complexity of what comes next. Energy is the oxygen of modern industry – essential, invisible, and too often taken for granted until it runs short,” Haq said.