America is in a global race for energy leadership. From electric vehicles and advanced batteries to solar manufacturing and next-generation nuclear, clean energy innovation will determine which nations set the terms of global prosperity in the 21 st Century.

China understands this better than anyone. It invested roughly $940 billion in clean energy sectors last year. It now produces nearly 70% of the world’s electric vehicles and dominates global battery and solar supply chains. These investments are not only about cutting emissions. They are about power, influence, and national security.

Unleash, Not Constrain Energy Innovation

That reality should serve as a wake-up call in Washington. If the United States is to stay competitive, we must unleash, not constrain, the private capital and energy innovation that will define the next century of the American economy. And for conservative leaders, many of whom have long sounded alarms about China’s rise, that means returning to a fundamental principle of their own movement: trust in markets and competition, not government interference.

Unfortunately, some recent political actions run counter to that principle.

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued major asset managers for considering cleaner sources of energy in their investment strategies, claiming they are conspiring to disadvantage coal producers. But as former Republican Representatives Bob Inglis of South Carolina and Carlos Curbelo of Florida wrote in Fox News , Paxton’s framing “badly misrepresents reality.” What Paxton calls collusion, they argued, “is in fact routine fiduciary judgment: investors weighing risks and making portfolio choices. That’s not a cartel. That’s an efficient market working as it should.”

Undermining the Free-Market System

Their message is simple: when politicians weaponize government power to punish investors for assessing financially material risks and opportunities, they undermine the very free-market system conservatives have long championed. “True freedom means defending the rights of businesses and investors to assess risk as they see fit,” Inglis and Curbelo wrote.

Even Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and Trump administration Energy Secretary, has called Paxton’s lawsuit “misguided, ” warning that it undermines the energy agenda conservatives worked to advance. As Perry put it, free markets—not political intimidation—are the best path to American energy security and economic resilience.

In an op-ed published on the conservative news site Center Square, former Republican Congressman Ryan Costello described this shift within the conservative movement: “Across the center-right, a growing number of policymakers, business leaders, and investors are returning to classical principles—recognizing that markets, not government intervention, are the best way to secure America’s energy future.” He added that attempts to punish private firms for market-based investment choices “flip that logic on its head, substituting the judgment of politicians for that of investors and consumers.”

Energy Freedom, Market Competition

And, in a letter published yesterday by 10 sitting Republican members of Congress, they urged House GOP leadership to protect the freedom to invest, stating: “By keeping the government from picking winners and losers and standing firm against ideological overreach, we can continue to strengthen our economy, empower workers, and safeguard the prosperity that has defined our nation for generations.”

These conservative leaders are reasserting an essential truth: energy freedom and market competition are the foundation of America’s strength. Investors and companies, not politicians, are best equipped to navigate emerging risks and opportunities—from hurricanes and drought to technological disruption.

Meanwhile, the next generation is watching. Polling shows that young voters, including many conservatives, overwhelmingly believe in climate action and support innovation-driven solutions. Gen Z sees the clean energy economy as a way to strengthen U.S. independence, create new industries, and ensure a livable planet. For them, this is not an ideology; it is economics and security.

Protecting investment freedom and advancing a 21 st -Century economy are not partisan issues. They are strategic imperatives. They are how we ensure that the United States, not our competitors, leads the world in the energy technologies that will power the future.

That’s why the growing conservative support for protecting investor rights and advancing innovation is simple: freedom, competition, and American strength. Those values built this nation, and they will secure its leadership in the century ahead.