Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

We pursue climate action that meets the crisis’s urgency, creates good-quality jobs, benefits disadvantaged communities, and restores U.S. credibility on the global stage.

People with placards and posters on global strike for climate change. Woman speaking in megaphone in front of crowd. (Getty/urbazon)

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 well-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 conserving 30 percent of all U.S. lands and water by 2030 and promoting natural solutions to the climate crisis that benefit all communities

Restoring U.S. climate leadership on the global stage

By taking strong and equitable domestic action, we restore the ability to bring countries together to reduce emissions and help developing countries transition to carbon-neutral economies and adapt to inevitable impacts

By the numbers

$3.1T

The cost to U.S. taxpayers from extreme weather events in 2025

119

The number of elected senators and representatives who still deny climate change in the current Congress

2°F

Human activity, largely burning fossil fuels, has warmed the planet this much since 1800s

1M

The number of plant and animal species at risk of extinction around the world today

Recent work

Latest

Compact View

Climate Action, Close to Home Upcoming Event

Climate Action, Close to Home

Please join the Center for American Progress for an event on local climate action during D.C. Climate Week.

Center for American Progress

The U.S.-Israeli War: Destabilizing Lebanon and the Broader Region Upcoming Event

The U.S.-Israeli War: Destabilizing Lebanon and the Broader Region

Please join the Center for American Progress for a virtual conversation with expert panelists based in the region who will explore the regional political, security, and humanitarian dynamics of the U.S.-Israeli war, with a particular focus on Lebanon.

Online via Zoom

Unilateralism in trade calls for a new approach to build a green future In the News

Unilateralism in trade calls for a new approach to build a green future

In an essay published by the International Network of Energy Transition Think Tanks, Ryan Mulholland argues that climate and trade policy should be treated as complementary disciplines.

International Network of Energy Transition Think Tanks

Ryan Mulholland

State Climate Action in 2026: How States Are Delivering Real Benefits Through Climate and Clean Energy Policy Report
An electric vehicle is seen charging in a parking lot in Storrs, Connecticut, on March 31, 2026.

State Climate Action in 2026: How States Are Delivering Real Benefits Through Climate and Clean Energy Policy

As the Trump administration drives up costs and creates new challenges, states are making timely decisions on infrastructure and accountability, advancing policies that tackle climate change, lower energy bills, improve air quality, and support good-paying clean energy jobs.

Frederick Bell

Why Alaska and U.S. Territories Get Damage, Not Dollars, From Deep-Sea Mining Article
Person sitting on beach and others in the ocean, with city buildings in the background

Why Alaska and U.S. Territories Get Damage, Not Dollars, From Deep-Sea Mining

The Trump administration is advancing deep-sea mining in U.S. waters near the Pacific territories and Alaska, a process Indigenous leaders have identified as "resource colonialism" due to its prioritization of corporate interests, the permanent ecological damage it causes, and the fact that its profits flow outward to shareholders while providing no economic benefits to communities struggling with high costs, precarious jobs, and faltering public services.

Climate Change Is Here—and America’s Most Marginalized Communities Are on the Front Lines Article
The image of Typhoon Sinlaku captured by satellite.

Climate Change Is Here—and America’s Most Marginalized Communities Are on the Front Lines

After Typhoon Sinlaku devastated the Northern Mariana Islands Tuesday, it is clear that climate change is already here—and hitting marginalized U.S. communities first. What comes next must be a commitment to resilience, preparedness, and equitable recovery.

Trump’s ‘God Squad’ Is Killing Whales Under the Guise of National Security Article
The sun sets behind an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump’s ‘God Squad’ Is Killing Whales Under the Guise of National Security

Under the pretense of national security, and amid a self-inflicted energy crisis of President Trump’s own making, the administration’s “God Squad” has exempted all Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activities from the Endangered Species Act, risking the extinction of critically endangered species such as the Rice’s whale.

Trading Offshore Wind for LNG: A Lose-Lose for Americans Article
The Sabine Pass LNG plant is seen in Cameron, Louisiana.

Trading Offshore Wind for LNG: A Lose-Lose for Americans

The Interior Department’s unprecedented deal with TotalEnergies redirects nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars away from reliable domestic electricity production and into volatile fossil fuels destined for export, signaling a new, corrupt approach to depriving the nation’s grid of new sources of clean energy.

Jasia Smith, Mike Williams

No More Reacting: An Argument for a Clean Industrial Policy—and Against Competitiveness as an Organizing Economic Principle Report
Workers walk past the construction site of an offshore wind project in New London, Connecticut, on August 25, 2025.

No More Reacting: An Argument for a Clean Industrial Policy—and Against Competitiveness as an Organizing Economic Principle

Moving beyond the failures of the Trump administration, the United States will need to embrace a strategy for fighting the climate crisis that prioritizes values such as support for working people and establishes a precedent for international collaboration.

The Nature Gap: Communities of Color and Those With Low Incomes Are Bearing the Brunt of America’s Nature Loss Report
Chemical plants and factories line the roads and suburbs of

The Nature Gap: Communities of Color and Those With Low Incomes Are Bearing the Brunt of America’s Nature Loss

New analysis reveals persistent environmental inequality in the United States. Communities of color are three times more likely than white communities to live in nature-deprived areas, and three-quarters of residents of these areas have low household incomes.

Fact Sheet: The Nature Gap: Communities of Color and Those With Low Incomes Are Bearing the Brunt of America’s Nature Loss Fact Sheet
A house is seen with a chemical plant in the background in Louisiana's

Fact Sheet: The Nature Gap: Communities of Color and Those With Low Incomes Are Bearing the Brunt of America’s Nature Loss

New analysis from Conservation Science Partners, the Center for American Progress, and Justice Outside reveals persistent inequality in nearby nature in the United States.

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