3 ways companies can push clean energy forward despite federal rollbacks

The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis.​

President Donald Trump’s big tax and spending bill, along with a series of executive actions targeting climate and clean energy programs, are disrupting clean energy manufacturing, supply chains and deployment that had been surging this decade.

Notably, these actions include curtailing tax credits that had driven hundreds of billions of private dollars into clean technologies, making it more difficult to build new energy projects and stopping nearly completed projects in their tracks. These steps actually run directly counter to many of the Trump administration’s own economic and energy goals.

Instead of reducing electricity prices, the bill is projected to increase them by making the quickest-to-build and most affordable new power sources more expensive at a time of rising electricity demand. Instead of restoring America’s manufacturing base and supply chains, the slow deployment will undermine private investment into new clean tech factories planned across the country and their supply chains. And instead of positioning the U.S. to better compete in global industries, the bill effectively cedes key 21^st century technologies such as batteries, electric vehicles and energy infrastructure to China.

While these issues have become unfortunate fodder in the culture wars, they were always economic. You can see that in the effort major businesses from across the U.S. economy made throughout 2025, as they pressed Congress to maintain clean energy incentives. And it’s why, amid rising energy prices and economic change, businesses should continue to advocate for clean energy policy that helps to meet energy demand and sustainably grow the economy. In this difficult political environment, climate and clean energy policy must focus on building up U.S. industry and innovation by advancing affordable, reliable, homegrown clean power. 

For sustainability professionals, this is an opportunity to better align key corporate functions with policy priorities and help guide your company’s support through the rest of this Congress. Here are some key policy areas where companies should advocate.

Extend and simplify tax credits

Trump’s big bill takes sharp aim at wind and solar power, rapidly phasing out tax credits for these energy sources if they don’t start construction by next summer or aren’t up and running by the end of 2027. At the same time, the administration has imposed unreasonable restrictions on many wind and solar projects and changed qualification rules, making it harder for projects to get started in time to claim what remains of the tax credits. 

These actions threaten to dramatically slow down deployment of wind and solar power — the most affordable and quickest-to-build energy sources — at a time when the nation needs all the energy it can get as quickly as possible to affordably meet surging demand.

Businesses should call on Congress to provide greater stability and a longer runway for wind and solar power. We need that affordable power to meet the increasing energy demand for data centers, artificial intelligence and new manufacturing facilities. Restoring the incentives will also support new manufacturing jobs as companies work to reshore supply chains to make these technologies in the U.S. 

As the general public and lawmakers from both parties recognize the need for new power sources to prevent skyrocketing utility bills and investments shifting abroad, businesses can play a powerful role in advocating for extended incentives and cutting bureaucratic red tape to accelerate the build-out of solar and wind power.

Make American transportation cutting edge

Congress is due to renew its every-five-year transportation infrastructure funding in 2026 to strengthen the nation’s roads, bridges, railways and more. Not only is this an opportunity to fund critical projects and repairs, but it also presents an opportunity to fully modernize U.S. infrastructure and the transportation systems that companies across the economy depend upon.

Businesses should call for this legislation to support jobs and innovation in industrial materials that are central to our infrastructure such as asphalt, concrete and steel. Incentives for cleaner industrial processes will further support investment and jobs that are already taking root across the country, positioning the U.S. to lead the world in building materials that are in growing global demand.

It is also a timely opportunity for companies that want greater access to electric vehicles to advocate for policies that expand access to them, and for the U.S. auto industry to secure policies that help it compete in a changing global economy. New investment in mining, processing and refining critical minerals would shape domestic supply chains for batteries, while further deployment of charging infrastructure would support wider-spread adoption of the innovative and cost-saving vehicles they are building.

Meet the economic moment with smart permitting

Red tape holds up investment, so meeting the nation’s surging energy demand and supporting domestic manufacturing will require smart policy changes that make it faster and easier to build. Businesses especially need new transmission infrastructure to reliably deliver affordable power, and the U.S. must also find ways to responsibly source our growing need for critical minerals. In each case, it will take reforms that make it more efficient to secure permits and increase certainty for businesses and investors as they take these projects on.

Bipartisan momentum for federal permitting reform has grown in recent years. While negotiations fell short in the last Congress, the need has only increased. Republicans and Democrats have a real opportunity to negotiate responsible reforms that support homegrown clean power and advanced manufacturing to meet the nation’s energy, economic, and national security needs. Businesses are well-suited and well-positioned to help bridge the political divide and make the economic case for action.