In late October, Bill Gates published an essay where he argues for shifting resources away from combating climate change and toward human welfare, like fighting poverty and disease.

The headlines simplified this shift, pitting Gates against climate change activists and declaring him now anti-climate. The reality is not that simple.

Today’s renewable energy advocates aren’t actually that far from where Gates stands. For years, fossil fuel interests cast climate policy as an elitist hobby, insisting they are protecting ordinary families from higher bills. Meanwhile, solar, storage and other clean technologies are emerging as the cheapest and fastest way to deploy new power amid surging demand.

In response, we have already evolved beyond talk about climate and toward energy affordability, which is core to fighting poverty.

We have realized that we should not approach the necessary task of combating climate change with a doomsday or siloed outlook, but rather lead with the economic opportunity presented by renewables, which also happen to have the added benefit of curbing emissions for people worldwide.

Soaring bills, volatile price shocks, U.S. energy dominance, homegrown energy security — this is the new language of the movement.

From town halls to social media, Democratic lawmakers are making it clear that Republican efforts to gut cost-saving programs like Solar for All, which was designed to lower electricity bills by at least 20 percent per household, will only raise our energy costs and kill opportunity.

That includes firing at Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which is expected to drive up electricity rates by as much as 18 percent, or roughly $170 more per household annually. These aren’t abstract climate policies — we are talking about grocery-bill money.

With the economics stacked so clearly in favor of accelerating renewable deployment, how is clean energy still losing the balance of the national narrative? The problem is a message is only as good as its reach, and all the message-testing and polling in the world won’t help if renewable energy advocates’ messages remain siloed and lost in the noise.

Sure, advocates have shifted toward affordability and reliability, but most of that conversation is still circulating among the convinced. Ads are running on Beltway podcasts, while talking points trend on X, not in neighborhood Facebook groups or suburban kitchens where families making basic trade-offs on bills live.

The result is that while most Americans are starting to feel the pinch of higher prices, they aren’t connecting rising costs to the Trump administration’s all-of-government approach to kill renewables, at least not yet.

While a poll found that 63 percent of respondents said their electric and gas utility bills were adding to their financial stress, very few are linking high prices to climate or clean energy policy.

The disconnect has some worried it’s time to move on from energy messaging. But if we don’t own this story, fossil fuel lobbyists will.

They have mastered the art of making their narrative about jobs and security, and now they’re keeping it alive by evolving with the times, pouring money into cutting-edge distribution platforms, digital targeting, influencer campaigns and brand storytelling. We may be winning on facts and economics, but they still own the ecosystem and the audience.

We need to make our issues resonant with everyday Americans, breaking through echo chambers to reach new audiences across the ideological spectrum, and building 21st century digital tools and technology to win on the social media battlefield.

The conversation now happens in short-form video and algorithms, along with other advanced digital tools help spread anti-renewable disinformation to millions before we’re even out of bed in the morning.

The good news is that all of the tools, technologies and advanced practitioners to win already exist — we just need the courage and catalytic investment to build it. This type of durable civic and digital capacity lasts beyond election cycles and leads people to contact their local officials and show up at local zoning board hearings.

Because it’s one thing to say you are in favor of clean energy, but what we really need are people to show up to help get it built.

Energy is the backbone of everything. It’s how people get food on the table, how the lights stay on and how the economy runs.

It is also core to fighting poverty and improving lives. When clean energy funding is cut, electric bills go up.

The question isn’t whether renewable energy advocates are right to shift their message, but whether they can make sure the right people hear it and take action in time to matter.

Leah Qusba is CEO of GoodPower, a research, strategic communications and campaigning organization.

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