Leading the Charge: Fresh Energy’s 11th annual Breakfast a success

Nearly 600 people from across Minnesota and the Midwest attended Fresh Energy’s 11th annual Benefit Breakfast on the morning of October 8, 2026, to celebrate Minnesota’s blueprint for a clean energy transition. We dove into the abundance of clean energy opportunities, including current technologies and how to deploy them at scale, the role of private sector investment, scaling markets, and building political will.

We’d like to thank our event sponsors and table captains who made this morning’s event a success, as well as everyone who joined us to celebrate! Together, we raised $622,521 to continue creating a clean future where all can thrive.

If you missed our Benefit Breakfast, want to share it with a friend, or experience it again, you can click here to watch the full event or view the video below. Be sure to check out these great photos from the event (more photos coming soon, so check back!). And if you’d like to support Fresh Energy’s mission to equitably decarbonize Minnesota, you can make a donation today.

Guests heard from keynote speaker Jesse Jenkins, a nationally recognized researcher and energy systems modeler charting the clean energy transition; special guest Tonya Allen, President of the McKnight Foundation, who shared a bold vision for advancing economic opportunity and climate action; and watched a special video featuring Don Shelby, a Minnesota broadcast legend who, with three Fresh Energy staff, highlighted some exciting clean energy projects in Minnesota.

Thanks to our supporters’ dedication, Fresh Energy continues to design, influence, and implement equitable policy to ambitiously advance a carbon-neutral economy in Minnesota and the Midwest.

While we are experiencing a time of unprecedented threats to clean energy and climate progress in Minnesota and across the country, our path to net-zero and maintaining our state’s energy autonomy is clearer than ever.

Here are our favorite highlights from the 2026 Benefit Breakfast:

Justin Fay, Fresh Energy’s Chief Program Officer, opened the program by welcoming guests and outlining our pivotal moment in the energy transition:

“You’re here because you believe Minnesota has the opportunity, the responsibility, and, most importantly, the know-how to lead by advancing practical climate solutions and building a more resilient and equitable clean energy future,” said Justin. “Through Fresh Energy’s policy work, we’re creating the foundation for a resilient, equitable, and cleaner future.”

Justin shared the five categories of Fresh Energy’s policy work — the electricity, buildings, transportation, heavy industry, and agriculture sectors — and how we work to drive down emissions in each by engaging with the Minnesota Legislature, state agencies like the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, regional grid operators, and more.

Justin also shared how good policy allows us to improve our systems, laws, and status quo to better fight the climate crisis.

“That’s why good policy is so very important,” said Justin. “It creates the roadmap for how Minnesota transitions to clean energy, grows its industries, creates jobs, supports healthy communities, repairs systemic inequities, and more.”

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Next, Tonya Allen, McKnight Foundation President, spoke about the importance of community-driven, place-based climate solutions and the importance of local leadership in Minnesota and the Midwest.

“For decades, Fresh Energy has done often the invisible work to help shape the systems we rely on, not simply advancing individual policies but helping to create the conditions, the enabling factors that create the platform for long-term progress.”

She emphasized that we’re already building a better future.

“The clean energy transition is already underway. The question is not whether it happens, the question is how we decide to shape it. History teaches us that lasting change happens when innovation, investment, and community leadership move together.”

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Dr. Margaret Cherne-Hendrick, Fresh Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, shared the importance of state leadership and local organizations to advocate for and make a better future for Minnesota amidst federal rollbacks.

“I’m here to tell you that our resolve remains strong and that we’re actually making significant, lasting progress on clean energy in Minnesota despite the adversity we face every day,” said Dr. Margaret Cherne-Hendrick. “Building a clean, reliable, and affordable energy system for the future requires staying at the table. Our commitment to that future is unwavering, and you can depend on Fresh Energy to keep showing up.”

While our federal government has attacked nonprofits, dismantled our country’s institutions, and attempted to erase our collective belief in science, particularly as it relates to climate change, Fresh Energy hasn’t backed down. Just last month, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission affirmed our recommendation in Minnesota Power’s Integrated Resource Plan that the utility should not commit to building a large new gas plant.

Margaret shared Fresh Energy’s recent work in laying the groundwork for a new generation of clean manufacturing on the Iron Range through advanced iron production, as well as advancing green ammonia production in our state to support farmers, strengthen rural economies, and build resilience across Greater Minnesota.

“These are exactly the kinds of opportunities we need to be pursuing right now,” said Dr. Margaret Cherne-Hendrick. “The path forward isn’t simply about preventing setbacks. It’s about creating a vision of prosperity, affordability, and economic opportunity that people can see themselves in.“

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Leading the Charge: Dr. Jesse Jenkins’ keynote remarks

Jesse Jenkins then provided a keynote speech about how states can continue leading the energy transition and how we can get to net zero amidst uncertainty.

Jenkins is a nationally recognized energy systems modeler, researcher, writer, and professor at Princeton University, where he leads the ZERO Lab. His work has helped shape the national conversation about how we build reliable, affordable, and carbon-free energy systems at the speed and scale this moment demands.

“I know first-hand the absolutely tremendous impact that state-level impacts like Fresh Energy have. Organizations that get up every day to ask ‘how can I seize the next window of opportunity to move the ball forward, to accelerate the transition to the clean energy economy and to show the world that that transition delivers real, tangible benefits.’ Fresh Energy is amongst the most effective organizations that I know of in the country at driving forward that change.”

He went on to say…

“The next challenge that Fresh Energy is working on today is to seize every window before us. That kind of relentless pragmatism that we see every day here at Fresh Energy is the kind we all need to bring to the challenge ahead of us to seize that opportunity, move that rachet forward, and build the clean energy economy.”

Jesse Jenkins’ remarks highlighted how strategy and energy policy is essential to meet our ambitious climate targets and build a cleaner future that benefits all.

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Celebrating exciting new energy transition projects in Minnesota

Fresh Energy was thrilled to debut a clean energy “news report” video with one of the most trusted voices in Minnesota journalism, Don Shelby. As Fresh Energy works every day to help shape the decisions that will define Minnesota’s future, Don met with three of our programmatic staff members to show how Minnesota is busy moving forward and taking climate action.

Watch Don Shelby’s special news report below to learn more about how Minnesota is advancing Sustainable Aviation Fuel, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and commercial-scale electrification.

To conclude the program, long-time Fresh Energy supporter Teresa Morrow took to the stage and shared how Fresh Energy’s work is only possible through the generosity of our supporters. Teresa and her husband Dale started giving to Fresh Energy over 10 years ago and highlighted how that giving has helped secure a $10 billion investment in our region’s electric grid to build clean energy and helped pass Minnesota’s 100% clean electricity law, too. Every gift is meaningful — and Teresa noted that every donation of $300 or more would be matched, dollar for dollar.

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After a year of federal uncertainty and climate rollbacks, Fresh Energy is determined to help Minnesota meet its ambitious climate targets. We’re boldly advancing policy solutions to equitably build a clean energy future, providing a new blueprint for progress in the face of deregulation and federal investment cuts.

Our guests Jesse Jenkins and Tonya Allen, as well as our video guest Don Shelby, all shared how Minnesota’s energy transition isn’t just about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but building stronger, healthier communities across the state.

We’re grateful to all of our guests who made this year’s Benefit Breakfast so special. And mark your calendar! The Benefit Breakfast will return on September 30, 2027.

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Thank you to our event sponsors!*

Title Sponsor – $25,000

Energy Access and Equity Sponsor – $15,000

Fair of the Future Sponsors – $10,000

*This event is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors. Accepting event sponsorship support does not reflect endorsement of specific sponsors or their products, services, or opinions.