New strategic plan builds on decades of experience and relationships

As I write this, CEE’s home state of Minnesota is closing out its warmest winter in state history. Per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the Midwest are 20% higher than the national average (National Climate Assessment), and tens of millions of American households live in energy poverty, reportedly cutting back on food or medicine at times to pay their energy utility bills (U.S. Census).

Despite our climate reality and pervasive economic disparities, there is still good news to build on — federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act will soon spur unprecedented investment in local efforts to equitably decarbonize. Communities throughout our region are increasingly planning with sustainability and inclusion at the center of their goals. And CEE is stronger and reaching further than ever to foster a healthy, carbon-neutral economy that works for all.

Against this dynamic backdrop of hope and urgency, I am pleased to announce CEE’s new strategic plan.

By design, our new plan builds on past strategies but is intentionally bolder, balancing CEE’s longtime goals with always-evolving company and community needs. Guided by the plan, CEE’s team of more than 200 clean energy professionals will:

• Take bigger steps to decarbonize buildings, leveraging CEE’s ongoing research and planning to develop pilots and advance building efficiency and electrification.
• Forge new field relationships and strategically influence the clean energy supply chain to become a more positive force for building decarbonization and better consumer choices.
• Center our work on equity for all, explicitly incorporating equitable outcomes into our program, policy, and research goals; our clean energy workforce development; and CEE’s own internal policies and practices.
• Embrace our role as a regional leader, with goals and influence extending throughout the upper Midwest as well as national thought leadership.
• Build more sustainable organizational practices and practical resources to maximize our time and skills, attract and retain staff, and strengthen our financial foundation.
• Recognize our role as a partner and ally to historically marginalized people, increasing our responsiveness to better understand and support diverse community needs.
• Double-down on attention to policy efforts strategically aligned with regulation, utility programming, community planning, financing, and customer engagement.
• Leverage unique and timely opportunities in unprecedented federal and state funding to scale up equitable building decarbonization everywhere we serve.
• Hold ourselves accountable through progress tracking that reflects CEE’s own impact as well as broader field or community initiatives we support.