Enemies of Energy: Climate Reality Project (CRP)

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Enemies of Energy, a research report created for the Capital Research Center. The page for the full report is here: Enemies of Energy.

According to what the NGO claimed in its most recent IRS filing, the “single purpose” of the Climate Reality Project (CRP) is to “ignite public action to solve the climate crisis.” Reporting $23.8 million total revenue for 2024, CRP is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit and a training ground for the world’s anti-energy activists. [i]

Appropriately, CRP was founded by America’s most decorated anti-energy activist, former American Vice President Al Gore. Winner of both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award for more than three decades of climate alarmism, Gore remains the chairman of—and an active presence in—CRP. [ii]

For example, Gore will be one of the featured “world-class experts” to speak at the May 2026 edition of CRP’s “flagship training” program in Nashville, Tennessee. This will be the 20^th anniversary of the NGO’s training sessions. Other headliners include notorious climate alarmists such as Naomi Oreskes and “hockey stick” graph creator Michael E.  Mann. Attendance is free for aspiring anti-energy activists whose applications are approved. [iii]

As with all the NGO’s profiled in the anti-energy report, a major CRP objective is to replace the world’s reliable and affordable energy with unreliable, weather dependent wind turbines and solar panels. For example, a September 2025 CRP report titled “Why Clean Energy is Cheap Energy” uses the widely debunked “levelized cost of electricity” (LCOE) metric (described in the previous section) to claim that wind and solar electricity are each less expensive than all other energy options.[iv]

This misplaced affection for weather dependent power is a global obsession for the Climate Reality Project. The nonprofit’s website claims more than 50 employees, plus “branch managers” for Europe, Africa, Latin America, Canada, Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil and “Australia and Pacific.”[v]

InfluenceWatch provides this information on the behavior of the Africa branch: [vi]

In a November 2016 position paper, the African branch of the Climate Reality Project opposed the construction of nuclear power plants in Africa. In November 2020 the International Energy Agency reported that 590 million people in Africa had no access to reliable electricity, making the continent home to three quarters of the world total of 800 million people still living in energy poverty.

The African Climate Reality Project report began by stating that 17 African nations were “seriously considering, conducting pre-feasibility studies or rolling out national nuclear programmes.” It concluded that nuclear power was “unsafe, bad for the environment and for people and is very costly.” Instead of nuclear, the report recommended that African nations invest in “sun, water and wind” energy systems.

Among the African CRP’s criticisms was an assertion that “Nuclear energy does not create more jobs.” A chart produced in the report showed 0.5 “total jobs” for each megawatt of electricity produced at a nuclear power plant. This compared to 1.7 jobs needed per megawatt for electricity from coal, 4.8 jobs per megawatt from wind energy, and 35.4 jobs per megawatt from solar power.

Economic theory defines productivity as the amount of an input (such as labor) needed to produce an output (such as a megawatt of electricity). Productivity growth (i.e.: increased efficiency) occurs when less input (e.g.: fewer workers) are needed to produce the same output. Productivity growth is an important prerequisite for wage growth. ^[vii]

Output per worker (or hours worked) is the most commonly used metric for productivity. But capital and land can be used as well. As explained in the prior section, nuclear and hydrocarbon fuels also use far less land to produce energy than wind and solar.

So the math provided by the Climate Reality Project paper unintentionally demonstrated that nuclear power, which CRP Africa said needs just a half-time employee to produce a megawatt, is nearly 69 times more efficient per worker than solar energy, which requires 35.4 people to accomplish the same task. The report undercut CRP’s claim that “clean energy is cheap energy.” And, as noted above, the report also implicitly proved that even coal-fired power is many times more efficient per worker than both wind and solar electricity production.

In addition to inflicting economic illiteracy on Africa, imposing inefficient electricity on a continent where hundreds of millions live without basic energy is also a textbook example of climate colonialism. It’s probably not surprising that the Africa nuclear report has since been removed from the African Climate Reality Project website. It can still be found on the Wayback Machine. [viii]

PDF hyperlink to full report

[i] The Alliance For Climate Protection (dba Climate Reality Project). (EIN: 87-0745629). 2024 IRS Form 990. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/870745629/202522519349301107/full

[ii] “Former Vice President Al Gore | Founder and Chairman.” The Climate Reality Project. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/former-vice-president-al-gore

[iii] “Speakers for the Flagship Training.” The Climate Reality Project. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/nashville/speakers

“FAQs for the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Flagship Training.” The Climate Reality Project. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/nashville/faq

“Climate Reality Flagship US Training.” The Climate Reality Project. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/training/nashville?training_source=general

[iv] “Why Clean Energy Is Cheap Energy.” The Climate Reality Project. September 25, 2025. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/why-clean-energy-cheap-energy

“Debunking Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE).” Doomberg | Substack. November 10, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/debunking-levelized-cost-of-energy

“20,000 Volts Under the Sea.” Doomberg | Substack. April 23, 2022. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/20000-volts-under-the-sea

“Making Sense of Levelized Costs.” Institute for Energy Research. December 22, 2011. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/uncategorized/making-sense-of-levelized-costs/

[v] “Who We Are.” The Climate Reality Project. Accessed March 20, 2026. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/who-we-are

[vi] “Nuclear energy: Are Africans being taken for a ride?” African Climate Reality Project. November 2016. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20211021043149/http://climatereality.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ACRP_Nuclear_Energy_Position_2016.pdf

“The Covid-19 crisis is reversing progress on energy access in Africa” International Energy Agency. November 20, 2020. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.iea.org/articles/the-covid-19-crisis-is-reversing-progress-on-energy-access-in-africa

“Productivity.” Investopedia. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/productivity.asp

“Climate Reality Project.” InfluenceWatch. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/climate-reality-project/

[vii] “Nuclear energy: Are Africans being taken for a ride?” African Climate Reality Project. November 2016. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20211021043149/http://climatereality.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ACRP_Nuclear_Energy_Position_2016.pdf

“The Covid-19 crisis is reversing progress on energy access in Africa” International Energy Agency. November 20, 2020. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.iea.org/articles/the-covid-19-crisis-is-reversing-progress-on-energy-access-in-africa

“Productivity.” Investopedia. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/productivity.asp

“Climate Reality Project.” InfluenceWatch. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/climate-reality-project/

[viii] “Nuclear energy: Are Africans being taken for a ride?” African Climate Reality Project. November 2016. Accessed March 19, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20211021043149/http://climatereality.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ACRP_Nuclear_Energy_Position_2016.pdf

LINK NO LONGER VALID: “Nuclear energy: Are Africans being taken for a ride?” African Climate Reality Project. November 2016. Attempted access on March 19, 2026. https://climatereality.co.za/nuclear-energy-are-africans-being-taken-for-a-ride/