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Energy and Environment

Charting an equitable and just path to a 100 percent clean economy with net-zero climate pollution, protection of 30 percent of lands and waters, and community investments

Solar photovoltaic power plant farm installation. (Getty/Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket)
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What We're Doing

Pursuing environmental justice

Investing in equitable climate solutions that address the country’s legacy of environmental racism while working to ensure that all communities have the right to breathe clean air, live free of dangerous levels of toxic pollution, access healthy food, and share the benefits of a prosperous economy

Creating good clean jobs at home

Laying the groundwork for an urgent transition to a clean energy economy that works for all, creating millions of good-paying jobs with the opportunity to join a union, and improving the quality of life for all Americans in the process

Protecting nature

Addressing the linked climate and biodiversity crises by working with a diverse coalition of states, tribes, and local stakeholders to conserve 30 percent of all U.S. lands and water by 2030 and promote natural solutions to the climate crisis that benefit all communities

Restoring U.S. climate leadership on the global stage

By urging strong and equitable domestic ambition for the U.S. government, restoring the United States to international leadership on climate action through bold emission reductions targets and plans to get there, climate finance, and strategic partnerships across the world

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Partners & Coalitions

The Energy and Environment Department engages with national, international, state, local, tribal, and environmental justice advocates to support the goals of climate, economic, environmental, and racial justice; bridge the gap between advocacy and action; and implement just and effective policies.

Climate Action Campaign

The CAC is a coalition of major national environment, environmental justice, and public health groups, working together to drive ambitious federal action to address the climate crisis.

Equitable and Just National Climate Platform

This coalition of environmental justice and national organizations advances economic, racial, and environmental justice to improve all communities’ well-being.

National Ocean Protection Coalition (NOPC)

The NOPC supports and implements ocean policies that balance a variety of environmental, commercial, industrial, recreational, and infrastructure interests.

Ocean Justice Forum

The forum works to create and advance an ambitious ocean policy agenda that promotes the goals of economic, racial, climate, and environmental justice.

Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign (ARDC)

The ARDC is a coalition of Alaska Native, climate, and conservation groups that works to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas drilling.

Featured work

About our department

The Energy and Environment Department will build agreement around the climate change and conservation crises, with a focus on the demonstrable impacts people feel now to build urgency to act. We will deepen and expand our coalition, both domestic and in key foreign countries, around the scope of the challenges, and we will work on our own and with our partners to create ambitious, equitable, and just policies to protect  lands; oceans; and the health, safety, and prosperity of all communities. This includes addressing systemic racism and economic inequality, reducing pollution and its cumulative impacts in communities of color and low-income communities, and measurably improving the lives of people in the near term through our policies as we address environmental challenges. We will work with partners in key foreign countries to build agreement on agendas for ambitious global action, which will further bolster domestic support for action at home. To achieve our goals, we must confront fossil fuel corporations and their allies that are standing in the way of Americans’ desire to safeguard the planet and the survival and well-being of all life on earth.

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Preparing for What’s Next: Lessons From Implementing the Nation’s Largest Climate Bill Upcoming Event
Then-U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his administration’s “Investing in America” agenda at the Port of Baltimore, October 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Getty/Anna Rose Layden)

Preparing for What’s Next: Lessons From Implementing the Nation’s Largest Climate Bill

Join CAP for a discussion with federal agency alumni as they share first-hand reflections and lessons from implementing the largest and most ambitious climate bill in U.S. history.

Center for American Progress Online via Zoom

Powering the Midterms: How Candidates Connected Clean Energy and Affordability Article
Wind turbines spin at the Altamont Pass wind farm.

Powering the Midterms: How Candidates Connected Clean Energy and Affordability

As governors-elect prepare to take office amid rising energy costs, their campaigns made clear that clean energy is part of the affordability answer, pointing to a policy path that pairs near-term relief and stronger utility oversight with clean energy and efficiency investments that will help lower bills over time.

Frederick Bell

The Trump Administration’s War in Iran Is Harming Fishermen in Hawaii and Across the Country Article
A long room is lined with rows of tables holding cut up fish placed on ice.

The Trump Administration’s War in Iran Is Harming Fishermen in Hawaii and Across the Country

The ocean is not exempt from the Trump administration’s reverse Midas touch. While the administration’s fisheries policies undermine protections for endangered species and iconic habitats, the war in Iran drives up the price of diesel, leaving fishermen teetering on the edge of insolvency.

Angelo Villagomez, Leo Banks

Public Land Swaps for Private Gain: How the Trump Administration Is Trading Away Public Lands for Corporate Benefit Report
The SpaceX Starship V3 is seen docked at a launchpad.

Public Land Swaps for Private Gain: How the Trump Administration Is Trading Away Public Lands for Corporate Benefit

From a private resort road through Yosemite to a SpaceX facility on a Texas wildlife refuge, land exchanges are an emerging threat to public lands and a potential jackpot for wealthy and well-connected individuals and businesses in the Trump era.

Maggie Bryan

Iran War Triggered a Diesel and Fertilizer Crisis for America’s Farmers Video
A farmer fuels a large tractor from a storage tank, with a cornfield in the background.

Iran War Triggered a Diesel and Fertilizer Crisis for America’s Farmers

Fertilizer and diesel prices have spiked to record highs due to the war in Iran, making it difficult for American farmers such as Aaron Lehman to grow their crops and make a living, and consumers are paying more for the food that they eat.

Margaret Cooney, Cody Hankerson, Hai-Lam Phan, 2 More Toni Pandolfo, Gibson Gillett-Behrens

Down to the Roots: Building Rural Policy Around Rural Needs Past Event
A man walks through a field of soybeans at sunset.

Down to the Roots: Building Rural Policy Around Rural Needs

This event will explore what it means to invest in rural communities on their own terms and build a rural policy agenda rooted in resilience, opportunity, and shared prosperity.

Center for American Progress and online via Zoom

FEMA Was a Lifeline After Hurricane Helene Decimated What Was Once Considered a ‘Climate Haven’ Video

FEMA Was a Lifeline After Hurricane Helene Decimated What Was Once Considered a ‘Climate Haven’

The Center for American Progress' award-winning documentary, "Asheville is Calling: A Climate Change Emergency," centers on Colleen Daly, an Asheville, North Carolina, native and small-business owner who lost her home and nearly lost her business to Hurricane Helene. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided the essential lifeline that got her through the immediate crisis, seven months later, she and her community were still struggling to rebuild.

Margaret Cooney, Hai-Lam Phan, Olivia Mowry

The Long Game on Energy Affordability Report
Electrical transmission lines hang over a housing development in Sylmar.

The Long Game on Energy Affordability

As electricity costs rise and states make important decisions about energy affordability, the most successful approaches protect consumers today while continuing to invest in energy efficiency and clean energy resources that lower bills over time.

Frederick Bell

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