Clean Energy
Challenge & Opportunity
The world’s demand for energy is rising fast. Every streaming video, every electric vehicle, every modern city depends on a reliable supply of electricity. But today, most of that power still comes from burning fossil fuels, the largest single source of global carbon emissions.
Clean energy represents one of the greatest opportunities of our lifetime: the chance to build an energy system that is reliable, abundant, and carbon-free. Wind and solar energy are already well established and having a significant impact. Newer technologies such as advanced geothermal, hydrogen, offshore wind, and even nuclear fusion are accelerating far more quickly than most people realize. The transition is no longer a distant goal; it’s underway.
The opportunity is to shape the energy systems that will define the next century.
Advanced Geothermal
Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) use precise drilling and fiber-optic sensing to access deep underground heat. Unlike solar and wind, geothermal provides clean 24/7 baseload electricity, making it a powerful complement to intermittent renewables.
Hydrogen Energy
Hydrogen can store and transport clean energy over long distances. Green hydrogen, produced via electrolysis powered by renewable electricity, has the potential to decarbonize industries, transportation, and power generation. It is particularly promising for sectors that are hard to electrify, like heavy industry and shipping.
Fusion Energy
Fusion aims to recreate the reactions that power the sun. If commercialized, fusion could deliver virtually limitless carbon-free power with minimal land use and no long-lived nuclear waste. It remains in development, but progress is advancing quickly.
Together, these technologies form a diversified clean-energy portfolio capable of decarbonizing the world’s power systems.
Powering the Future
Examples
Fervo Energy
A leader in enhanced geothermal. Fervo combines horizontal drilling and fiber-optic sensing to build highly efficient geothermal systems capable of delivering around-the-clock clean power.
www.fervoenergy.com
Plug Power
A pioneer in green hydrogen solutions, producing hydrogen fuel cells for industrial, transport, and energy applications. They are helping make hydrogen a practical, low-carbon energy source.
www.plugpower.com
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
A leader in commercial nuclear fusion. Commonwealth Fusion Systems combines advanced design with high-temperature superconducting magnets to develop compact fusion power plants capable of delivering reliable, carbon-free energy at grid scale.
www.cfs.energy
Companies Making an Impact
Category
Climate Impact
Innovation Momentum
Scalability
Real-World Adoption
Clean Energy – Climate Impact And Readiness Assessment (CIARA)
Score
9/10
9/10
8/10
7/10
Overall CIARA Score: 8.25 / 10
Clean energy - solar and wind are well-established. New developments in geothermal, hydrogen, and fusion, are some of the most promising and necessary transformations of the 21st century.
Why it Matters
Clean energy directly replaces fossil fuels, offering some of the fastest and largest emissions cuts.
Breakthroughs in geothermal, hydrogen, and fusion are accelerating rapidly.
Geothermal and hydrogen scale quickly; fusion is longer-term but could provide future global baseload power.
Costs are falling and deployment is rising, though permitting and grid upgrades remain hurdles.