A vast and well-organized campaign is actively underway to suspend global wind energy discourse. The Financial Times calls it the US president’s “crusade against renewable energy.” WindEurope, who describe themselves as “the voice of the wind energy industry,” say attacks on wind power pose a “systemic risk to Europe’s security.” Wind energy already accounts for about 10% of US electricity use, is frequently less expensive to produce than fossil fuels, and helps to achieve domestic net zero emissions goals. Renewable energy is the way to energy independence, WindEurope researchers argue, and Europe is forging ahead with wind. Europe now has 304 GW of wind power capacity: 265 GW onshore and 39 GW offshore. Wind as part of a renewables‑based energy system could save Europe around €1.6 trillion, the researchers have concluded. While the world has been harvesting energy from wind for several decades, it is only in the last few years — as citizens have become more concerned about global climate change — that increased installation of wind turbines has occurred and taken on the role of a valued contributor to the global energy mix. However, its full potential as an energy source is fragile due to attacks on wind. Facts we know about wind from thousands of scientific studies now are being challenged by widely disseminated social media platforms that question long-respected peer-reviewed findings. Can wind win the disinformation wars? Efforts to crush wind energy seem especially weird in relation to the ongoing fuel crisis caused by the US/ Israel war in Iran. In addition to causing gas prices to spike to about $4.50/gallon on average, wholesale electricity prices surged by 8.5% in March after the war was launched, according to The Associated Press. It’s clear that the US desperately needs the 30 gigawatts of affordable clean energy that the offshore wind can provide. In total, the projects awaiting approval will produce about 30 gigawatts of energy, enough to power 15 million US homes. Countries across the pond are moving ahead and are expected to install 151 GW of new wind power capacity over 2026-2030. The EU-27 will install 112 GW of this – 22 GW a year on average. This will bring total installations in Europe and the EU to 439 GW and 343 GW respectively by 2030. Nonetheless, the wind industry in Europe, too, is fighting against an orchestrated campaign to diffuse, delay, and disrupt wind’s advancing importance in energy portfolios. US Puts Wind Permitting on Pause The US Pentagon evaluates wind energy projects during a Federal Aviation Administration review process. But in recent weeks it has stopped sending any projects back to the FAA, impeding what had been a largely methodical process. Even routine processing for projects that did not require mitigation measures stopped in early May. Climate activist and Middlebury College professor Bill McKibben was livid this week as he wrote about the Trump administration’s blockage of all approvals of US wind farms. Somewhere between 165 and 250 big projects are temporarily halted, which threaten financing and eligibility for the remaining tax credits leftover from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act. McKibben howls that the reason for the wind power delays on “national security grounds are bogus” as it gives “them too much credit.” Installations are on private land, “far away from military bases,” so that even when judges eventually find in favor of these blocked onshore projects, “the damage will have been done: no one in their right mind would invest in new wind power now.” “This isn’t energy dominance,” retaliates Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) about the attacks on wind innovation. “This is sacrificing American jobs, weakening the American grid, and forcing American families to pay even higher prices.” The Sunrise movement argues that Trump’s war on wind energy is part-and-parcel of his actions to foreground fossil fuel interests in transactional efforts to pay back reelection campaign donations. “Trump’s energy policy has one priority: help his Big Oil donors make a final cash grab before their industry goes extinct,” the group said in a press release. “If energy prices spike and the climate crisis worsens… well, that’s working people’s price to pay.” Trump uses doublespeak to downplay his administration’s overt complicity as it stalls US clean energy innovation. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) rejects Trump’s claim of fossil fuel’s necessary dominance in US “energy independence.” “Electricity costs are slamming Americans, as a result of a not-so-covert Trump plan to stall or block inexpensive clean energy. The failure to provide wind power creates the appearance of an artificial demand for fossil fuel. Every blocked kilowatt of clean energy comes instead from fossil fuel. Customers’ rates go way up, and all that extra cost families pay goes to (cue drumroll) Trump’s corrupt fossil fuel donors. It’s on purpose.” Ironically the US states with the most wind energy potential voted for Trump in 2024: Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas. About 50 of the stalled projects are in Texas. That’s because wind farms make financial sense for many US farmers and ranchers: they can add to their earnings portfolios by leasing a portion of their land to wind and can continue unimpeded with regular agricultural operations. Europe, too, is Bombarded with Wind Misinformation WindEurope’s investigations have exposed how “coordinated false and misleading narratives ” are having serious effects on public debate delaying the “deployment of homegrown, affordable energy at a time when Europe urgently needs it.” Although local “renewables are the only future-proof energy strategy for Europe,” social media climate entrepreneurs are spreading and repeating debunked myths on health, environmental, and economic impacts of wind energy. What’s missing from the misinformation is that countries with large amounts of renewable energy production have proven more capable of avoiding massive spikes in energy costs. Of 6.3 million active engagements, such as likes, shares, and views, 68% of the posts sampled were classified into dis- and misinformation-related anti-wind narratives. Millions of Europeans have heard their false but persuasive claims. There’s a well-founded fear among European clean energy proponents that such wind myths may lead to normalizing the anti-wind narratives. Sweden has been hit the hardest by the coordinated attack on wind power. The largest share of dis- and misinformation posts were written in Sweden — almost 7,000. Yet last year Sweden generated 99% of its electricity from low-carbon sources, the highest of any EU country. According to energy think tank Ember, Sweden only relied on fossil fuels for 1.2% of its electricity in 2025, pushing emissions per capita well below the EU average. Fighting Back against the Attacks on Wind Wind is the second least expensive energy on earth behind solar. In fact, wind, as McKibben explains, is “just another form of solar energy — the wind rises when the sun heats the earth more in some places than others. The farther north you go, the stronger the wind gets.” Worried about the repeated myth of bird fatalities from wind turbines? McKibben suggests installing “fewer turbines, spaced further apart, and equipped with modern bird-detection technology such as IndentiFlight.” EU citizens — 88% of those surveyed by WindEurope — say it is important for the EU to take action to increase renewable energy, giving policymakers a clear mandate to deliver. At a time of overlapping energy, competitiveness, and climate crises, this moment calls for leadership, clarity, and scale — not hesitation, say WindEurope researchers. Acting decisively will unlock investment, reduce costs, and reinforce public support as Europeans see the tangible benefits of a more secure and resilient energy system. Resources “Everyone knows it’s windy.” Bill McKibben. Substack. May 12, 2026. “Sweden generates 99% of electricity from clean sources. So why is wind power under attack?” Liam Gilliver. Yahoo!News. May 6, 2026. “Trump ‘extrajudicially’ blocks all new US wind projects — which could power 15M homes amid energy crisis.” Stephen Prager. Common Dreams. May 8, 2026. “Wind energy dis- and misinformation.” WindEurope. “Wind projects are stalled because the Pentagon isn’t completing its reviews, industry group says.” Jennifer McDermott. Associated Press. May 7, 2026.
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