About this episode
Clean energy doesn’t scale on ambition alone. It scales on trust, data, and systems most people never see.In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Ben Gerber, President and CEO of CleanCounts, the nonprofit organization operating one of the most critical yet least visible pieces of clean energy infrastructure in North America.CleanCounts serves as the system of record behind clean energy markets, ensuring renewable electricity and clean fuels are tracked accurately, transparently, and without double counting. While few people ever interact with a clean energy registry directly, nearly every clean energy transaction depends on one.Ben shares how CleanCounts grew from a small, compliance-focused nonprofit into North America’s largest clean energy registry by volume, supporting both regulated markets and the rapidly expanding voluntary market. Over the past decade, the organization scaled by solving hard, unglamorous problems that others overlooked, building credibility through audited financials, customer-first service, and a relentless focus on data integrity.The conversation explores why registries function as invisible infrastructure, underpinning corporate climate commitments, state policies, and emerging 24/7 carbon-free energy goals. Ben explains why clean energy attributes exist in the first place, what critics often misunderstand about them, and why abandoning accounting systems in favor of simplistic grid averages would have serious consequences for renewable development, jobs, and investment.A pivotal moment in CleanCounts’ evolution came when the organization brought software development in-house. That decision allowed CleanCounts to innovate faster, lower costs, and prepare for market changes years before they became mainstream, including hourly energy tracking, hydrogen and nuclear certificates, pollinator-friendly solar credits, and future clean ammonia registries.Ben also unpacks the growing complexity of climate accounting as corporate buyers move beyond procurement toward measurable emissions impact. From hourly matching to emissionality models, he explains why no single framework is a silver bullet and why flexibility, optionality, and validated data matter more than ideology.The episode closes with a forward-looking view of the clean energy transition, where electrons and molecules increasingly intersect, data transparency becomes embedded in everyday decision-making, and trust remains the foundation that makes scale possible.If you want to understand how clean energy markets actually function and why counting correctly matters as much as building fast, this conversation provides rare clarity.Links:Ben Gerber on LinkedInCleanCounts Website
