🔍 First look: Senior officials from the Biden-era DOE loan office are publicly launching a nonprofit today that aims to speed deployment of low-carbon tech in the U.S. and abroad.

Why it matters: It's the latest example of how the federal policy U-turn on energy and climate is creating new efforts in response.

Driving the news: Months after starting work, the group Constructive is announcing itself with a goal of "reshaping how leaders and experts collaborate to scale clean energy and climate infrastructure."

• It has a model for creating "connective tissue" by weaving together stakeholder events, dialogues and strategies — and then ensuring there's follow-up.

The intrigue: The goal of the nonpartisan group's "stakeholder engagement model" is to fill a gap, not just offering more documents and meetings.

• "What's missing ... is follow-through and an understanding of how you create events and convenings and reports that are connecting the dots and building on each other towards some target outcome, and are creating clarity in doing that," Jonah Wagner, the group's president, tells Axios exclusively.
• "When we're thinking about how you put an event together, we're thinking, what happens when everybody wakes up the day after they went home?" he said in an interview.

State of play: Constructive works with governments, industry, think tanks, philanthropies and others.

• Areas of focus include demand response; "clean firm" sources like next-generation geothermal and advanced nuclear; transmission and other grid-enhancing tech; and advanced manufacturing.

"Our primary focus is going to be those energies or sources that drive energy abundance and a thriving planet, which often, but not always, excludes fossil fuel-driven [energy]," CEO Susan Kish tells Axios.

• Funding has come from "fee for service" with groups it's already working with, but Wagner expects philanthropic grants will ultimately be a significant source.

Between the lines: Kish said that if last year's election had gone differently, the "convening" function that Constructive provides would have likely remained within DOE.

• She was the executive producer of the Energy Department's Deploy23 and Deploy24 events, while Wagner was chief strategist at LPO and helped create the department's Pathways to Commercial Liftoff roadmaps.
• The team of roughly a half-dozen includes other LPO vets.

The big picture: Wagner and Kish gave a glass-half-full take on U.S.-focused work despite the federal pullbacks under Trump 2.0. They note there's now more certainty with the budget law passed, along with the need to meet rising power demand.

• Constructive would also like to work with the Trump administration on areas of alignment, Wagner said.

Catch up quick: Its work to date includes organizing an "energy and resilience" summit in Santa Barbara in May and producing the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Task Force's upcoming summit in New York.

The bottom line: "If you can establish those relationships, get that trust going, things start to happen, right?" Kish said.

Some of K Street's most powerful industry groups are staying effectively mum, at least publicly, on Trump 2.0's effort to repeal EPA's 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases.

Why it matters: There's no internal consensus on ripping out EPA's Clean Air Act authority over GHGs root and branch, so it's delicate (for many reasons).

State of play: EPA paired the proposal with a plan to scuttle all emissions rules for cars and trucks dating back to 2010.

Here's a look at some responses...

🛢️ The American Petroleum Institute cheered the vehicle move but didn't weigh in directly on nixing EPA's overall authority.

• Biden-era tailpipe rules were a "costly and unrealistic" overreach that abused EPA authority, the group said.
• "As the administration begins this process, we look forward to working with them in the months ahead to finalize smart and effective regulation of emissions," it added.

🏢 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it appreciates Trump 2.0's "focus on economic growth" and providing "reliable, affordable energy" for competitiveness.

• "While we did not call for this proposal, we are reviewing it and will consult with members so we can provide constructive feedback to the agency," said Marty Durbin, who heads the group's energy arm, in a statement.

⚡The Edison Electric Institute, which represents for-profit utilities with very different generation mixes, said it's still reviewing the 302-page proposal.

• The group backs "clear, consistent" regulatory policies that drive infrastructure investment and strengthen economic and energy security, it said.
• "It is essential that EPA use its authority to craft flexible regulations that account for impacts to reliability and customer bills," the group said.

🔭 It's "really all about 2029," TD Cowen analysts said in a note about EPA's attempt to kill the endangerment finding.

• The big picture: Why is Trump 2.0 launching this fight in addition to repealing specific emissions rules on cars, oil, and power? "To us, the answer here is an effort to add additional road blocks to a post-2029 (potentially Dem-led) EPA wishing to re-regulate GHGs in those spaces," it states.
• Why it matters: If EPA succeeds in nixing the finding, "future Dem-led EPAs would have to invest the effort (and more critically) the time to re-introduce a similar finding, then issue new regs — hard to do inside a 4-year term."

⚖️ One thing that's clear from the 302-page proposal: EPA sees tailwinds from 2022 and 2024 Supreme Court rulings that limit agencies' discretion in the absence of explicit congressional blessings.

• Why it matters: If EPA finalizes repeal of the endangerment finding, it's certain to be litigated, so the document is a peek into the agency's likely legal arguments.
• State of play: EPA cites those rulings many times in arguing that 2025 is very different from 2009 when EPA issued the finding.
• Catch up quick: The agency is citing a pair of 6-3 rulings from the court's conservative majority on "major questions" and ending "Chevron deference." Both limit executive agencies' running room from different angles.
• Friction point: Backers say they add ballast to balance of powers; critics of the rulings say they prevent agencies from applying expertise and addressing evolving problems.

🌀 NOAA will maintain long-term access to key Defense Department satellite data used for hurricane forecasting and more, the agency said in a statement yesterday.

• Why it matters: The potential loss of the data threw a monkey wrench in forecasting operations just ahead of what's expected to be an above-average hurricane season. Full story.

⚛️ The White House's reshaping of the NRC has created a cloud of uncertainty that risks undermining President Trump's goal of approving more nuclear reactors.

• Catch up quick: The latest upheaval came yesterday when Commissioner Annie Caputo announced her resignation "to more fully focus on my family."
• Go deeper: Unlock the whole story, and if you need smart, quick intel on energy and climate policy for your job, get Axios Pro Policy.

🙅 The Interior Department is adding another fresh round of reviews to proposed wind projects, the latest barriers to what it calls "unreliable" energy.

• The latest: New policies include withdrawing some areas with high wind potential "to ensure compliance with legal requirements" for multiple use on public lands, such as grazing and recreation.

That's the projected rise in global electricity demand in 2025 and 2026, respectively, per a new International Energy Agency report.

Why it matters: While below 2024 levels, it's nonetheless "among the highest rates observed in the past decade and well above the 2015-2023 average of 2.6%," IEA said.

• Heat waves, data centers, industrial demand, appliances and more are also pushing use upward.
• Full analysis.