Wisconsin added more than 1,350 clean energy jobs last year and while that outpaced the rest of state employment, clean energy jobs grew at their slowest pace since 2020 in the state, according to the ninth annual Clean Jobs Midwest report.
The report was released Wednesday by the national, nonpartisan business group E2, Evergreen Climate Innovations, and RENEW Wisconsin.
Even with this growth, the state added 846 fewer clean energy jobs than it did in 2023, but that still outperformed the rest of state employment, which grew by less than 1 percent.
Still, amid a slowing national economy, clean energy jobs grew four times faster than the rest of Wisconsin’s economy.
The report said the clean energy sector in Wisconsin now counts 75,034 clean energy workers — the fifth-most in the Midwest and 17th nationally — led by 58,160 jobs in energy efficiency and 7,295 jobs in renewable energy generation.
“Midwest states continue to recognize the value of investing in clean energy,” Micaela Preskill, E2’s director of state advocacy said in a press release. “In 2024, clean energy jobs outperformed the rest of the economy in every state in the region.
“It’s a testament to the sector’s ability to bring jobs to every community, today and as we look to the future,” Preskill said.
Clean and fast
The 12 states featured in the report are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
In 2024, the report said jobs in solar, wind, batteries, energy efficiency, storage and grid, and other clean energy subsectors continued to grow faster than the broader economy.
Clean energy constitutes an increasingly large share of Wisconsin’s energy workforce, as 65% of all new energy-related jobs in 2024 were clean energy hires.
The only sub-sector that lost jobs in 2024 was clean vehicles, which lost 175 jobs due to an industry-wide decline across all motor vehicle sectors. Despite the subpar year, this sub-sector, which employs 6,544 workers across the state, has performed well since 2020, growing by 43% in that time.
The data in the report predates the July 2025 passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is expected to slow clean energy job growth nationwide.
The Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration have worked to scuttle projects, revoke clean energy tax credits, cancel permits and add new regulatory red tape, the report said.
According to separate E2 research, these measures already have caused major job losses in the clean energy industry in 2025, with more expected to come.
Since January, companies canceled nearly $10 billion in planned clean energy-related factories and other projects in the Midwest that were expected to create over 8,000 new jobs, E2 said.
In response to a question about the possibility of more federal job cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and other environmentally focused agencies — President Trump has threatened workforce reductions during the government shutdown — Jamal Burki, CEO of Renewance Inc., a battery storage and lithium ion battery recycling company, chose to focus on the damage that’s already been done by the winding down of tax credits for wind, solar, vehicle and energy efficiency.
Burki said there already has been a significant slowdown as project development has been delayed.
“So you can imagine, credit that is now no longer in place may result in an energy storage project not penciling out financially,” he said, also noting the dampening effect on jobs in engineering and construction.
In addition, fewer incentives for electric vehicles affect larger original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, which are taking a pause to understand what these policies mean for them, he said.
“So that is the real impact that’s happening,” Burki said, “and we have to adjust our staffing projections for the year because of the overall industry slowdown.”
Despite this flagging commitment, the report’s authors said the clean energy sector’s importance to the region’s overall economy is stronger than ever, as clean energy now accounts for 51% of all energy and vehicle-related jobs in the state.
“Clean energy jobs across the Midwest are proving more resilient than the broader economy,” said Ian Adams, managing director at Evergreen Climate Innovations, in a press release.
“This resilience reflects the strength of regional innovation, state leadership, and the ability of companies to keep creating opportunities despite headwinds,” Adams said. “Businesses are scaling, creating jobs, and proving that innovation here can drive the clean energy economy forward.”
The analysis also provides data breakdowns by state, county and sector.
At the local level, the report said Milwaukee County is the sixth-ranked Midwest county for clean energy jobs with 17,023 clean energy workers. Dane and Waukesha counties also rank in the top 20 in the region with 8,462 (16th) and 7,538 (17th), respectively.
Meanwhile, Brown County ranked 42nd in the Midwest with 3,405 clean energy jobs and Outagamie County ranked 46th with 3,157 jobs.
