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Energy and Environment

Conservation Policy

We work to protect our lands, waters, ocean, and wildlife to address the linked climate and biodiversity crises. This work helps to ensure that all people can access and benefit from nature and that conservation and climate investments build a resilient, just, and inclusive economy.

Bald eagles fishing in China Poot Bay, Alaska. (Getty/Louise Heusinkveld/Photodisc)

What We're Doing

Conserve 30 percent of lands, waters, and ocean by 2030

“30×30” is a science-backed goal to address the linked climate and biodiversity crises by conserving 30 percent of U.S. lands, waters, and oceans by 2030. We work with a diverse coalition to achieve on-the-ground protections that benefit nature, the climate, and communities.

Move toward pollution-free public lands and waters

Despite the climate crisis, the oil and gas lobby continues to push for more drilling on public lands and waters. We advocate for energy policy reform and a just transition so that the land, water, and ocean shared by all communities can be used for the common good.

Confront racial and economic disparities in access to nature

People of color and low-income communities disproportionately lack access to nature and bear the impacts of its destruction. We work with front-line communities to advocate for policies that right historical wrongs and affirm Indigenous leadership and tribal sovereignty.

Advocate for nature-based solutions to the climate crisis

We cannot stabilize the climate without increasing protections for nature. One of the most effective strategies for mitigating climate change is to protect and restore more land and water. We work toward policies that connect climate action and nature-based solutions.

The Conservation Policy team works to protect our lands, waters, ocean, and wildlife to address the linked climate and biodiversity crises, boost the economy, and benefit all.

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Should the U.S. Drill for More Oil and Gas? In the News

Should the U.S. Drill for More Oil and Gas?

Upfront published a debate between CAP’s Jenny Rowland and the president of an industry trade group about whether the United States should continue drilling for oil and gas or invest in a clean energy future.

Upfront

Jenny Rowland-Shea, Melissa Simpson

How States Can Turn Polluted Lands Into Clean Energy Report
Turbines from the Roth Rock wind farm are seen in Oakland, Maryland, August 23, 2022.

How States Can Turn Polluted Lands Into Clean Energy

In the absence of federal leadership, states should encourage renewable energy development on contaminated lands—including landfills, abandoned mines, and brownfield sites—in order to reap economic benefits and meet rising electricity demand.

Dylan Nezaj, Alia Hidayat

Fact Sheet: How States Can Turn Polluted Lands Into Clean Energy Fact Sheet
Turbines from the Roth Rock wind farm along the Backbone Mountain are seen on August 23, 2022.

Fact Sheet: How States Can Turn Polluted Lands Into Clean Energy

In the absence of federal leadership, states should encourage renewable energy development on contaminated lands—including landfills, abandoned mines, and brownfield sites—in order to reap economic benefits and meet rising electricity demand.

Alia Hidayat, Dylan Nezaj

The Shutdown’s Impacts on National Parks and Public Lands Offer a Preview of Trump’s Long-Term Vision Article
Person entering national monument past large welcome map

The Shutdown’s Impacts on National Parks and Public Lands Offer a Preview of Trump’s Long-Term Vision

Before and during the government shutdown, the Trump administration has pushed an agenda to sell out America’s public lands for drilling and mining while gutting the funding, staff, and policies necessary to steward those lands for future generations.

Drew McConville

Ocean Progress Symposium: Advancing Conservation Close to Shore Past Event

Ocean Progress Symposium: Advancing Conservation Close to Shore

Please join the Center for American Progress for an event to explore how to navigate ocean conservation in the United States for the next four years.

Center for American Progress and Online via Zoom

Ocean Progress Symposium 2025: Advancing Conservation Close to Shore Past Event

Ocean Progress Symposium 2025: Advancing Conservation Close to Shore

Please join the Center for American Progress for an event to explore how to navigate ocean conservation in the United States for the next four years.

Online via Zoom

How the Government Shutdown Affects Public Land Employees and Communities Article

How the Government Shutdown Affects Public Land Employees and Communities

Bipartisan efforts saved public lands from being sold off. Can Congress work together again so that furloughed public land employees in the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service are not fired?

Mark Haggerty

The Trump Administration’s Expansive Push to Sell Out Public Lands to the Highest Bidder Report
An oil pumpjack operates in the Great Plains of southeastern Wyoming.

The Trump Administration’s Expansive Push to Sell Out Public Lands to the Highest Bidder

After bipartisan opposition forced Senate Republicans to remove language from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would have sold off public lands, the Trump administration is still moving forward with proposals to transfer control over tens of millions of acres of public land to the oil and gas, mining, and timber industries.

Drew McConville, Mariel Lutz, Jenny Rowland-Shea

States Can Lead the Way on an Abundant, Pro-Nature Clean Energy Future Article
Wildflowers growing on hills with wind turbines

States Can Lead the Way on an Abundant, Pro-Nature Clean Energy Future

The Trump administration has falsely framed wind and solar power as harmful to wildlife in order to justify stifling affordable, rapid-to-deploy, clean energy. Here’s how state leadership can advance clean energy and conservation goals simultaneously.

Alia Hidayat

Trump’s ‘Energy Dominance’ Means Payouts to the Oil and Gas Industry In the News

Trump’s ‘Energy Dominance’ Means Payouts to the Oil and Gas Industry

In an op-ed published by The National Interest, Kendra Hughes and Lucero Marquez assert that President Trump's vision of "energy dominance" offers giveaways to the fossil fuel industry instead of the affordable, reliable, and domestically produced energy that America needs.

The National Interest

Kendra Hughes, Lucero Marquez

The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act Endangers the Transformation of Contaminated Sites for Clean Energy Production Article
Rows of solar panels dominate land behind homes in Chicago.

The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act Endangers the Transformation of Contaminated Sites for Clean Energy Production

The congressional Republican spending bill, which President Donald Trump recently signed into law, kills tax credits that help communities turn idle toxic sites such as brownfields and abandoned mines into sources of clean energy and revenue.

Alia Hidayat, Dylan Nezaj

Will the U.S. Housing Crisis Be Exploited for a Massive Public Lands Sell-Off? Report
The San Jacinto Mountains are seen from afar at the Big Morongo Wildlife Preserve in Morongo Valley, California, April 11, 2007.

Will the U.S. Housing Crisis Be Exploited for a Massive Public Lands Sell-Off?

Some politicians are using the nation’s housing affordability problems as a pretense to sell off public lands—an extreme agenda that puts America’s treasured lands and waters at risk without substantively addressing housing needs. A new initiative from the Trump administration publicly promises restraint, while specific proposals from Capitol Hill tell a different story.

Drew McConville, Doug Turner

Forecasting Disaster: How DOGE’s Cuts to NOAA Will Affect Weather Awareness and Well-Being Past Event

Forecasting Disaster: How DOGE’s Cuts to NOAA Will Affect Weather Awareness and Well-Being

Please join the Center for American Progress for the next in a series of virtual events highlighting the impact that DOGE’s cuts are having on the lives of everyday Americans; this event will focus on how cuts to NOAA will harm the weather forecast and Americans' safety.

Online only

The U.S. terminated its 30×30 conservation plan but this also presents an opportunity (commentary) In the News

The U.S. terminated its 30×30 conservation plan but this also presents an opportunity (commentary)

In an op-ed published by Mongabay, Angelo Villagomez and Alia Hidayat argues that while President Trump's nixing of Biden's historic “30x30” conservation plan is a significant loss, a hopeful post-30x30 conservation framework may already be emerging.

Mongabay

Angelo Villagomez, Alia Hidayat

8 Ways Special Interests Are Asking President-Elect Trump To Sell Out U.S. Public Lands Report
Large rock formations seen through plants

8 Ways Special Interests Are Asking President-Elect Trump To Sell Out U.S. Public Lands

Corporate insiders have shamelessly lined up a suite of proposals to enrich themselves at the expense of American families and future generations. President-elect Trump will soon make his choice: reject these bad ideas or sell out America’s parks and public lands on the cheap.

Drew McConville, Jenny Rowland-Shea

Protecting Public Land Revenue-Sharing Governments From the Fiscal Risks of Economic Transitions Report
Joshua Tree National Park

Protecting Public Land Revenue-Sharing Governments From the Fiscal Risks of Economic Transitions

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of state, local, and Tribal governments’ dependence on payments tied to resource extraction on public lands. The Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund offered a temporary solution and a framework for a permanent one.

Sharon Ferguson, Mark Haggerty

Disappearing Parks: How Project 2025 Would Decrease Protections for Nature Article
One of the towering pinnacles in Valley of the Gods within the Bears Ears National Monument is illuminated as the sun sets.

Disappearing Parks: How Project 2025 Would Decrease Protections for Nature

Eight landscape-level national monuments designated by the Biden-Harris administration have helped close the nature gap for millions of Americans, but their protections are at risk from extreme anti-conservation measures in Project 2025.

Sam Zeno

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