Greenlight America

Greenlight America’s seeks to develop weather-dependent energy initiatives while promoting job creation in the sector. ² The organization aims to reshape public hearings, which are frequently dominated by vocal, well-organized opponents to weather-dependent energy projects, to amplify the voices of advocates for weather-dependent energy. ³

Founding and Advocacy

Greenlight America has raised $5 million and employs a team of around 20 staff members across the U.S. with its headquarters based in Washington, D.C. The organization’s chief executive officer and co-founder, Matt Traldi, draws inspiration from the labor movement’s focus on local voices and organizing. Previously involved with Indivisible and labor unions, Traldi has argued that while many people support weather-dependent energy projects, they often lack the knowledge of when and where to advocate for these initiatives. ⁴

Ari Appel, the nonprofit’s chief program officer and other co-founder, explained that many individuals are not keeping up with local government proceedings, and nonprofit organizations often overlook grassroots efforts. Appel, who previously led campaigns for weather-dependent energy advocacy groups, also worked with Building Back Together, an initiative supporting the implementation of President Joe Biden’s climate and energy legislation. ⁵

Greenlight America claims that one of the major challenges facing weather-dependent energy development is the process of siting and permitting. It claims that by 2032, the U.S. needs to construct 6,000 new generation facilities, particularly wind and solar farms, along with over 10,000 miles of transmission lines to meet growing energy demands. It seeks to target existing stakeholder networks by partnering with membership and community organizations, labor unions, and others to find supporters to organize for passing local permits by attending public meetings, sending emails, and making calls to legislators’ and policymakers’ offices to enable solar project permitting. ⁶

Greenlight America claims that public support for renewable energy remains strong by citing a 2023 Pew Research Center report. ⁷ It claims that local resistance to weather-dependent energy projects often arise from concerns about landscape alterations and misinformation, particularly regarding health risks linked to technologies like solar farms. ⁸

Associated Organization

Greenlight America is under the umbrella of the Partnership Project, a charitable nonprofit coalition of environmental organizations focused on climate policy initiatives. ⁹ The Partnership Project provides fiscal sponsorship to organizations working to advance weather-dependent energy initiatives that include other nonprofits such as the Climate Action Campaign, the Climate Advocacy Lab, the Combined Defense Project, the Environmental Polling Consortium, and the Green Leadership Trust. ¹⁰