Departments

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)

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.

Latest

Why the Farm Bill May Be the Highest-Stakes Climate Fight Flying Below the Radar Report
A farmer harvests soybeans in a field along the Mississippi River.

Why the Farm Bill May Be the Highest-Stakes Climate Fight Flying Below the Radar

Major climate and conservation gains hang in the balance as Congress reauthorizes the expiring farm bill; passing strong legislation that builds on historic investments from the Inflation Reduction Act is critical for the United States to lead the world on climate-smart agriculture and meet national land conservation goals.

New Clean Vehicle Standards and Investments Improve Public Health, Fight Climate Change, and Build Domestic Supply Chains Testimony

New Clean Vehicle Standards and Investments Improve Public Health, Fight Climate Change, and Build Domestic Supply Chains

Shannon Baker-Branstetter, senior director of Domestic Climate and Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress, testified on the clean vehicle standards and federal EV investments, highlighting the consumer, grid, climate, and national security benefits of EVs.

The Inflation Reduction Act Is Building a Clean Energy Economy and Good-Paying Jobs Testimony

The Inflation Reduction Act Is Building a Clean Energy Economy and Good-Paying Jobs

Trevor Higgins, senior vice president of the Energy and Environment department at the Center for American Progress, filed written testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Minerals; the testimony is in support of the Inflation Reduction Act and its historic investments in American households and jobs aimed at accelerating the U.S. transition to a clean energy economy.

Trevor Higgins

‘Under the Pala Pala’: Special Edition Episode Video

‘Under the Pala Pala’: Special Edition Episode

In this special edition episode, six national marine sanctuary advocates came together for a storytelling event hosted by the Center for American Progress and the National Ocean Protection Coalition at the fifth International Marine Protected Area Congress in Vancouver, Canada, to talk Indigenous-led conservation.

What the U.S. Must Bring to the 2023 U.N. Loss and Damage Negotiations To Address Climate Change Impacts Article
Photo shows people at the edge of a road town apart by flooding, with a giant crater in between the broken sides.

What the U.S. Must Bring to the 2023 U.N. Loss and Damage Negotiations To Address Climate Change Impacts

The United States must show up to loss and damage discussions this year with solidarity, constructive negotiating positions, and credible finance solutions so that the world can not only address the losses and damages of climate change, but also continue to pursue ambitious climate mitigation goals.

Cassidy Childs

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