Rich Powell
—
Executive Director
Biography
Rich Powell is the Executive Director of ClearPath and ClearPath Action, the DC-based organizations advancing policies that accelerate breakthrough innovations to reduce emissions in the energy and industrial sectors.
Rich advises policymakers on investing wisely in energy innovation, removing roadblocks to building and exporting American clean energy and industrial technology, and maintaining and promoting our flexible clean energy resources. He frequently testifies before congress on climate change and energy innovation.
Rich’s work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, FoxNews.com, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Morning Consult, RealClear Energy, and a number of regional publications. His views are regularly featured in national publications including the National Review, NPR, Politico, USA Today, Axios, E&E, New York Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, LA Times, Houston Chronicle, MIT Tech Review, Bloomberg, Green Tech Media, Utility Dive, the Guardian, and many others.
Rich served on the Advisory Committee to the Export Import Bank of the United States 2019-2021. He is also on the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center’s Advisory Group.
Previously, Rich was with McKinsey & Company in the Energy and Sustainability practices. He focused on corporate clean energy strategy, government low carbon growth strategy, and clean tech market entry.
Education
B.A. from Harvard College in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and a J.D. from New York University.
Area of Expertise
Policy and Strategy
Featured Content from Rich
Energy sector innovation and broader efforts to address climate change should resemble the best of the tech start-ups in the U.S.: fast, disruptive, exciting and good for consumers. The Energy Sector Innovation Credit, or ESIC, would update the energy portion of the tax code by allowing cutting-edge technologies to gain commercial viability and upend the status quo without distorting the free market.
There is an important consequence of the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan that has gone underreported: This regime now controls the nation’s massive deposits of rare earth elements and critical minerals.
Industrial sector carbon emissions remain one of the most difficult and vital clean energy challenges. Combined with the power sector, the industrial sector — e.g. metals, such as iron and steel, and building materials, such as concrete & cement — make up half of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
A Massachusetts-based company called Form Energy recently unveiled the details of its much anticipated, multi-day energy storage system, a technology that’s been known for decades but never truly commercialized: iron-air batteries.
On July 21, 2021, ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy in a hearing entitled, “Combating Climate Change in East Asia and the Pacific.”
Policy makers in Denver, D.C., and across the country are looking for ways to make the transition to 100% clean energy to address climate change and improve our environment. Colorado was among the first few states in the nation to set a target to provide carbon-free power by mid-century.
