The Competitive Enterprise Institute advocates for free market reforms that ensure abundant and affordable energy and better protect our environment. CEI has been instrumental in fighting decades of climate alarmism and anti-energy policies that constrict energy supplies, raise prices, and stoke unjustified pessimism about human adaptive capabilities.
Conclusions of CEI’s research and analysis include: Abundant, affordable energy is a blessing underpinning the unprecedented improvements of the past two centuries in life expectancy, health, standards of living, food and nutrition, and industrial production. The climate catastrophe narrative is based on global climate models that inflate greenhouse gas emission scenarios and have been falsified by the past four decades of temperature data. The real costs of proposed solutions to the alleged crisis hugely exceed their hypothetical benefits.
Coalitions led by CEI were instrumental in defeating ratification of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, defeating enactment of the 2009 Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, and convincing President Trump to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate treaty.
Energy and Environment Issue Areas
Featured Posts

Wall Street Journal
Zero Is the Magic Number for Cutting Red Tape
One of President Trump’s executive orders could transform how the federal government reviews and manages energy regulations that rule and constrain our lives.

Blog
President Trump’s three new energy executive orders: A quick overview
On April 8, President Trump signed three new executive orders (EOs) that address the United States’s energy sector. The key themes of the EOs include…

Blog
Trump is right to target showerheads, but he’ll need Congress to finish the job
President Trump is taking another pro-consumer step, this time on showerheads. His April 9th executive order, Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads, reinstates his…
Studies
Powering Intelligence: Meeting AI’s Energy Needs in a Changing Electricity Landscape
Introduction The electric grid is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure underpinning modern life, yet it faces growing threats from increased demand, regulatory…
Modernizing the EPA: A Blueprint for Congress
Forward Kent Lassman, President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Reorganization Plan No. 3 of…
Basketball vs. Bureaucracy
North Carolina’s permitting reforms in recent years have significantly reshaped the state’s regulatory landscape, focusing on accelerating project approvals and reducing bureaucratic delays. Key changes…
Blog
Congress needs to repeal the Biden EPA and California attack on gas-powered cars
The attack on gas-powered vehicles exists on multiple fronts, including through federal and state regulation.Regarding federal regulation, much of the attention has been focused on…
Senate should support S.J.Res.4 repealing Biden’s anti-consumer water heater regulation
The Biden administration gave us far too many anti-consumer appliance regulations, and some of the worst were ones supported by manufacturers angling to create a…
CEI celebrates agency giving up power
Even if it becomes commonplace, we should pause in wonderment whenever an agency repeals its own regulations and relinquishes power, whether voluntarily or not. And…
News
Senate votes to repeal Biden rule against water heaters
Today the U.S. Senate voted on a joint resolution to repeal a Biden-era Energy Department rule imposing unwarranted energy efficiency restrictions on consumer water…
Inflation decreases in March, tariff turmoil yet to have an effect: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index for March shows a 0.1 percent decrease across all sectors, deviating from previous months. CEI senior economist Ryan Young…
Congress passes resolution repealing Biden energy rule against freezers, walk-in coolers: CEI statement
Congress successfully passed a resolution repealing a Biden Energy Department rule that would have imposed needless restrictions on walk-in coolers and freezers. CEI energy policy…
Op-Eds
Fox News
Biden’s leftover regulations will decide your next light bulb unless Trump stops them
Americans have shown a real dislike for the wave of federal regulations targeting home appliances. Even more infuriating is the fact that our…
RealClear Energy
SEC’s Climate Risk Disclosure Rule Would Compel Companies to Make Scientifically False and Misleading Disclosures
In March last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its climate risk disclosure rule, called “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” …
The Independent Institute
Wind and Solar Tax Credits are Destroying the Grid
Rising power demand is revealing the fatal flaw in the increasing penetration of wind and solar on the grid. It’s time to admit that enough…
Staff & Scholars

Daren Bakst
Director of the Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow
- Energy and Environment
- Lands and Wildlife
- Property Rights

Ben Lieberman
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Consumer Freedom
- Energy

Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment

Myron Ebell
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment

Paige Lambermont
Research Fellow
- Capitalism and Free Enterprise
- Energy
- Energy and Environment