48 Time April 25/May 2, 2022
ClimateGoesPrivateOn a brisk mOnday in HOusTOn in early
March, dozens of protesters gathered across
the street from the giant Hilton hotel hosting
CERA Week, the energy industry’s hallmark annual
conference. Their signs accused the corporate ex-
ecutives inside of betraying humanity in pursuit of
financial return. sTOp exTracTing Our f uTure,
read one. peOple Over prOfiT, read another. Two
days later, in a standing-room-only hotel ballroom,
Jennifer Granholm, the U.S. Secretary of Energy,
offered a different message to the executives: the
Biden Administration needs your help to tackle cli-
mate change. The scene encapsulated this moment
in the fight against global warming: some of the
most ardent activists say companies can’t be trusted;
governments are saying they must play a role.
They already are. The U.S. Department of En-
ergy has partnered with private companies to
bolster the clean-energy supply chain, expand
electric- vehicle charging, and commercialize new
green technologies, among a range of other initia-
tives. In total, the agency is gearing up to spend
tens of billions of dollars on public-private partner-
ships to speed up the energy transition. “I’m here
to extend a hand of partnership,” Granholm told
the crowd. “We want you to power this country for
the next 100 years with zero-carbon technologies.”
Across the Biden Administration, and around
the world, government officials have increasingly