Environmental and Climate Justice

Featured

How the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity Can Respond to the Health Threats of the Climate Crisis
Report

How the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity Can Respond to the Health Threats of the Climate Crisis

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Climate Change and Health Equity must elevate the health and environmental justice implications of the climate crisis and provide the connective tissue needed to harness resources, leverage authorities, and coordinate federal expertise.


Latest

Compact View

Dreaming of a Protected Ocean In the News

Dreaming of a Protected Ocean

In the spring 2024 issue of the Smithsonian's American Indian magazine, Angelo Villagomez draws on personal memories growing up on Saipan to describe how his culture, heritage, and family continue to inform his approach to conservation advocacy today.

American Indian magazine

Angelo Villagomez

How the Biden Administration Is Fighting for Clean Air and Water, Climate Protection, and Healthy Communities for All Report
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House before signing an executive order that would create the White House Office of Environmental Justice.

How the Biden Administration Is Fighting for Clean Air and Water, Climate Protection, and Healthy Communities for All

The Biden administration has launched the most ambitious climate and environmental justice agenda in history to ensure that every community has clean air and water, can access living-wage jobs and affordable clean energy, and is protected from climate change threats.

‘Clean Up To Green Up’: Building a Clean Energy Workforce and a Brighter Future in Detroit Video

‘Clean Up To Green Up’: Building a Clean Energy Workforce and a Brighter Future in Detroit

The Green Door Initiative is using federal investments from President Joe Biden's Justice40 Initiative and the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure that all people—regardless of race, income, or ZIP code—have access to good jobs and live in safe and healthy communities.

What Will Be in the Final SEC Climate Disclosure Rule? Article

What Will Be in the Final SEC Climate Disclosure Rule?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s March 2022 climate disclosure proposal provides a roadmap for its upcoming final rule requiring public companies to disclose climate-related information that will help investors make sound investment decisions.

Alexandra Thornton

We Need Smart Policy for Automakers to Profit on EVs In the News

We Need Smart Policy for Automakers to Profit on EVs

Former Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) asserts the need for the United States to implement a charging infrastructure that can meet consumers’ needs in an op-ed published in WardsAuto.

WardsAuto

Rep. Andy Levin

Securing Clean Air, Clean Water, and a Healthy Environment for All Video

Securing Clean Air, Clean Water, and a Healthy Environment for All

Industrial facilities are most often located in or near Black, brown, and low-income communities who face the brunt of harmful industrial pollution, climate change impacts, and other environmental and public health hazards—something Harold Mitchell experienced firsthand in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Fortunately, the Biden administration’s long-overdue environmental justice investments can ensure that all people—regardless of race, income, or ZIP code—have clean air and clean water and live in safe and healthy communities.

The Biden Administration Can Deliver on Ocean Conservation Promises Made by the Bush and Obama Administrations Article

The Biden Administration Can Deliver on Ocean Conservation Promises Made by the Bush and Obama Administrations

Publishing final management plans for three marine monuments that have languished in bureaucratic limbo for as many as 15 years would deliver effective management for nearly half the protected waters in the United States.

Angelo Villagomez, Beth Pike, Laurie Peterka, 1 More Jen Felt

The Biden Administration Has Reached Conservation Records in 2023 Article
U.S. President Joe Biden walks to sign a proclamation to designate Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

The Biden Administration Has Reached Conservation Records in 2023

After three years in office, it is clear that the Biden administration is safeguarding public lands at a record rate; in the coming year, it must continue its conservation progress through community-led, justice-centered landscape protections.

Sam Zeno

The Biden Administration’s Opportunity To Protect the Brooks Range From Unnecessary Mining via Ambler Road Article
Photo shows an aerial view of a mountain range, mostly bare with no trees, against a grey, cloudy sky. A serpentine river snakes through the valleys between the mountains.

The Biden Administration’s Opportunity To Protect the Brooks Range From Unnecessary Mining via Ambler Road

President Joe Biden has the opportunity to safeguard the ecologically sensitive lands of the Brooks Range in northwest Alaska from the threat of Ambler Road—a destructive path to a speculative mine that local communities have loudly opposed.

Sam Zeno

Port of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Site Development Article
Photo shows an aerial view of the harbor with an expanse of green grass and trees, flanked by bodies of water on both sides

Port of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Site Development

The Port of Green Bay in Wisconsin has received funding to expand onto the site of a former power plant; the transformation includes the removal of coal piles and other items left from the power plant, and ships will be able to both load and unload cargo at the new port.

Guide to Rural and Tribal Capacity-Building Programs Report
Joe Biden in front of clouds in sky

Guide to Rural and Tribal Capacity-Building Programs

These 10 federal programs are designed to expand capacity and bridge the gap between federal resources and the rural and Tribal communities that need them most.

Mark Haggerty, Chéri Smith

How States Can Equitably Deliver Home Electrification Rebates Report
Photo shows workers on a roof of a light grey hours against a cloudy sky

How States Can Equitably Deliver Home Electrification Rebates

State and Tribal authorities must prioritize exhausting and distributing more than $4.5 billion through the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate program directly to low- and moderate-income households in order to decarbonize the nation’s most climate-vulnerable, energy-burdened homes.

Jasia Smith

2023 CAP IDEAS Conference Past Event
CAP IDEAS Conference logo

2023 CAP IDEAS Conference

Join the Center for American Progress as we celebrate 20 years of innovative policy solutions and look boldly forward to a progressive future.

CAP Comments on the EPA’s Proposed Rule on Lead Dust Levels in Child-Occupied Facilities Sign-On Letter

CAP Comments on the EPA’s Proposed Rule on Lead Dust Levels in Child-Occupied Facilities

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to the agency’s proposed lower lead dust hazard standards and clearance levels for child-occupied homes and child care facilities.

Sustainable and Reliable: Securing Resources for the Clean Energy Future Report
Used electric vehicle batteries are set up for further testing.

Sustainable and Reliable: Securing Resources for the Clean Energy Future

The United States must act quickly, in concert with its allies, to secure an economically and environmentally sustainable supply chain of battery minerals that benefits and respects the rights of workers and front-line communities.

The Inflation Reduction Act: A Year in Review Testimony

The Inflation Reduction Act: A Year in Review

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 Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services; the testimony is in support of the Inflation Reduction Act in its first year of historic investments in American households and jobs aimed at accelerating the U.S. transition to a clean energy economy.

Trevor Higgins

Load More

Related Priorities

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

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.

Strengthening Health

Strengthening Health

We work to strengthen public health systems and improve health care coverage, access, and affordability.

Advancing Racial Equity and Justice

Advancing Racial Equity and Justice

We apply a racial equity lens in developing and advancing policies that aim to root out entrenched systemic racism to ensure everyone has an opportunity to thrive.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.