The Energy Future Exchange (EFEX) is a two year program of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Ecologic Institute in Berlin and the Ecologic Institute in the US, co-funded by a grant of the European Union to foster the transatlantic civil-society dialogue on Energy in the context of climate change.

By focusing on civil society, we hope to identify both innovative approaches and practical solutions that can lead to substantive progress on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the next two years, we will convene study tours, conferences, workshops, and pop-up events from Denver to DC to Brussels, as well as lead a dynamic online conversation for everyone to join. We look forward to hearing from you.

The 20th century was a time of massive industrial development in the United States and Europe, much of which was motivated and enabled by large-scale energy systems that seemed to promise unlimited growth and unstoppable progress. The consequences of this pursuit of more, bigger, faster, however, have become increasingly evident in the first years of the twenty-first century, and no consequence has proven more foreboding and imminent than climate change.

Yet that same spirit that drove the societies in the US and Europe to create unparalleled systems of prosperity still thrives, especially among civil society groups that are becoming increasingly engaged in political discourse.

Leveraging this active engagement with the technological advances being developed within the energy sector and the interdependent sustainable development goals that are driving policy decisions on both sides of the Atlantic is the key to creating a sustainable, secure, and affordable energy future that continues to drive innovation and progress for and by the citizens of the EU and US. The Energy Future Exchange (EFEX) fosters transatlantic civil society exchange by increasing ties, cooperation, and understanding among EU and US civil society groups through dialogue on the future of energy in the context of climate change.

EFEX builds on extensive experience with civil society in the US and EU as well as leading expertise in the areas of energy policy and climate change brought by all three partners to the action —the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Ecologic Institute Berlin, and Ecologic Institute Washington, DC.

EFEX is a two-year endeavor financed in large part through the European Union Delegation to the United States Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogues program.