Dear NECEC Community,

The 2016 Presidential election has touched a nerve for so many of us.

As leaders in an industry building businesses and creating jobs in clean energy, we cannot deny our concern about a President who denies that climate change is real and has voiced doubt that a transition to clean energy is the right path for our country. It’s unfortunate that this campaign lacked serious and grounded policy debate on energy and climate issues. Our organization successfully works to spur technology innovations, address complex policy and regulations, and leverage our community of leading edge universities and scientific foundations, through partnership and collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders with varying perspectives on clean energy and its benefits and costs.

While we expect that climate and clean energy policy at the federal level will be severely impacted in the years ahead, we will continue to be a voice for clean energy at all levels of government, and forge ahead with our focus on advocating for clean energy policy progress and partnering to accelerate clean energy innovation and market development in the Northeast.

We are proud of how over NECEC’s 10-year history, we have partnered with the clean energy industry to create a community of advocates, partners and policy makers here in the Northeast who believe that clean energy is our future. Reflecting on this election reaffirms our mission to create a world-class clean energy hub in the Northeast and our commitment to our unique network of innovation ecosystem partners, startup entrepreneurs, emerging and growth companies and global energy industry leaders.

The Northeast is demonstrating to the world that clean energy is good for our environment and our economy. We are grateful to work with state-level public sector leaders who know we need clean and renewable energy, investments in energy efficiency, and a modernized electricity system that engages cities, communities and other customers creating a reliable and resilient energy infrastructure that enables them to manage and reduce their costs. These leaders also know that the evolution to a clean energy system is an investment in economic growth, job creation, increased resiliency, and regional competitiveness.

We have economics and momentum on our side. Renewables in 2015 accounted for more than half of the world’s increase in power capacity. Still, we cannot take progress for granted. As an industry, we need to ensure our voice is stronger and more cohesive than ever. This election makes the business voice, the job creator voice, the innovation ecosystem voice, and our combined voices that much more fundamental.

In 2017 and beyond, we commit to lead an informed energy and climate dialogue that aims for progress and respects ideas, diversity, and innovation while proving that clean energy is fundamental to our energy system, economy, and the environment. NECEC will continue to work to ensure that clean energy progresses and accelerates across our region. We will grow relationships and efforts in the Northeast and the global energy industry. We need your partnership more than ever in these efforts.

Best,

Peter Rothstein and the NECEC Team