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ClearPath Action Rundown 
September 26th, 2025

Happy Friday!

1. ClearPath in NYC: Advancing U.S. technologies...

This week, ClearPath partnered with the American Petroleum Institute (API) in New York to showcase the advanced, next-generation energy technologies that are driving U.S. energy leadership.

This year’s Carbon Innovation Forum convened senior government officials, energy executives, investors, project developers and thought leaders to discuss how:

• The U.S. energy industry is innovating advanced energy technologies and resources – from enhanced geothermal and advanced nuclear to critical minerals and carbon capture and storage (CCS). 
• These innovations can deliver affordable, reliable, low-emissions energy, strengthen supply chains, create high-quality American jobs and expand U.S. exports and global market influence.

Plug in: Check out Kelsey Grant and Emily Johnson's recap blog here.

2. … and selling them globally: Energy security compacts

L-R: Jeremy Harrell, Roger Martella, Jeff Wilson, Maggie Lake

At Foreign Policy’s Energy Forum, ClearPath CEO Jeremy Harrell, GE Vernova Chief Corporate Officer Roger Martella and Export-Import Bank Senior Advisor for Energy Dominance Jeff Wilson discussed financing opportunities for American energy expansion.

While America’s adversaries are spending billions to corner global energy markets, the U.S. can enhance its foreign policy tools, without trying to match subsidies, to advance energy leadership, energy security and support private sector innovation. Here’s how the U.S. can prevail and achieve global energy dominance:

• Promote strategic interagency coordination through an Energy Security Compacts (ESCs) framework;
• Reauthorize and enhance the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) with expanded investment authority; and
• Modernize and reauthorize the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) with flexible financing for strategic projects.

Plug in: Read more from our experts on how ESCs can elevate energy security as a core pillar of U.S. foreign policy.

3. Oklo breaks ground on Aurora powerhouse at INL

Oklo Inc. broke ground at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on its first Aurora powerhouse. 

The Aurora-INL project is:

• One of three projects awarded to Oklo under DOE’s newly established Reactor Pilot Program, a pathway created in response to executive orders signed in May 2025 to expedite testing of advanced nuclear technologies.
• A sodium-cooled fast reactor that uses metal fuel and builds on the design and operating heritage of the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), which ran in Idaho from 1964 to 1994. 

“Oklo Inc.'s Aurora powerhouse will deliver clean, affordable, and reliable American energy to power a new generation of intelligence manufacturing across the country,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “As advancements in artificial intelligence drive up electricity demands, projects like this are critical to ensuring the United States can meet that need and remain at the forefront of the global AI arms race.”

4. Utah, Colorado Governors: "Geothermal Energy Unlocks America's Future"

Geothermal energy is proving to be a scalable, reliable and clean technology with an important role to play in meeting rising energy demand.

What’s clear: “In Colorado and Utah, we know that by innovating and working together we can build an affordable, sustainable future. This is what it takes to ensure America leads the world in geothermal innovation. The future of our energy system is beneath our feet—it's time to harness it,” wrote Govs. Cox (R-UT) and Polis (D-CO). 

Plug in: Read their case for expanding geothermal energy and strengthening American energy dominance in their new opinion piece in Newsweek.

5. ClearPath’s solution to global energy leadership

At the United Nations’ climate summit, China, the world’s largest carbon-polluting country, announced it aims to increase emissions cuts from 7% to 10% by 2035. China currently produces more than 31% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, by the end of 2024, they built four times as much clean energy as the United States. Early data from 2025 suggests that the gap will continue to widen.

China is also the world’s dominant energy financier, outpacing the U.S. nearly ten-to-one in global markets and establishing itself as a primary partner in key Western nations like Brazil. ClearPath’s recent report analyzes China’s predatory strategies and explores opportunities for U.S. policy and innovation. 

ClearPath released a new, first-of-its-kind report, Energy Financing Power: America vs. China – A Case Study in Brazil. 

This report reveals:

• Globally, China’s public investment in energy projects is $446 billion since 2015, while the U.S. stands at just $45 billion;
• China outpaces the U.S. by more than 100x ($60 billion compared to $472 million) in public energy finance in Brazil, a strategic Latin American economy; 
• Official Chinese entities own at least 12% of Brazil’s power system, as well as significant shares in mining and upstream oil and gas; and
• Predatory lending from the Chinese policy banks discourages market competition to the detriment of U.S. firms, while threatening to isolate Brazil from other strategic financial partnerships. 

Plug in: Read the executive summary and the full Energy Financing Power: America vs. China – A Case Study in Brazil report here.

6. The Circuit

7. ICYMI

• Congratulations to… 
  • Katherine Scarlett for her confirmation as Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.
  • John Jovanovic for his confirmation as Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
  • Scott Hutchins for his confirmation as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics.
  • Richard Fordyce for his confirmation as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation.
  • Dudley Hoskins for his confirmation as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.

• C3 Solutions published its annual report, “Free Economies are Clean Economies.”
• Geothermal developer Zanskar announced positive findings from its drilling campaign at its Pumpernickel site, unlocked by Zanskar’s AI-driven approach. 
• A Bank of America report found that nuclear energy has a $10 trillion potential market opportunity. 
• Zeno Power and Orano announced an agreement to secure a rare isotope to power space missions from Orano’s used nuclear fuel recycling operations.
• Fortera signed an offtake agreement with Microsoft for its ReAct low-carbon cement, a strategic investment that supports the construction of Fortera's first commercial-scale facility.

8. Catching up: fission and fusion in the States

• TerraPower, Evergy and the state of Kansas announced an agreement to explore advanced nuclear energy deployment.
• Commonwealth Fusion Systems signed a second power purchase agreement for its planned ARC fusion plant in Virginia with the Italian energy company Eni.
• The Tennessee Valley Authority issued a letter of intent that draws a roadmap for how the utility will work with Type One Energy group, a company that aims to deploy the world's first nuclear fusion plant.

ClearPath believes America must lead the world in innovation over regulation…markets over mandates…providing affordable, reliable, clean energy. 

That's all from us. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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