There’s Still Hope on Climate

With President Trump’s return to office, where do we find hope for environmental progress? The good news is there are many places to turn that are far from a president’s reach.

During Trump’s first term, while he was implementing a scorched earth policy against federal regulations, Earthjustice mounted a successful defense in the courts, winning 85% of our lawsuits to stop him. Critically, we also went on the offensive, ramping up work at the state level and internationally to make gains.

As we enter a second Trump term, we plan to double down on our non-federal work — because no election result will extend the planet’s climate deadlines.

For decades, Earthjustice has partnered with overseas organizations and local communities alike to establish, strengthen, and enforce legal protections for the environment and public health. On the state level, our top-notch lawyers have appeared before public utility commissions, state houses, and other regulatory agencies since the early 2000s to force regulators to rethink how the U.S. generates electricity.

With this approach, we have made big strides on climate: retiring scores of coal-fired power plants and removing policy barriers to the adoption of renewables in states, localities, and international venues around the world.

But we won’t just be playing defense during Trump’s time in office. Here’s how we will keep moving forward:

Heat pumps, like this one being installed in Juneau, Alaska, are critical for electrifying homes. (Michael Penn for Earthjustice)

Electrifying Everything

With the right catalyst, many cities and states are willing to lead the shift from burning dirty fuels to modern electric solutions. Our Right To Zero campaign provides that push for state and local policies that will electrify everything — from the transportation and industrial sectors to ports and the appliances in our homes — and power it all with 100% renewable energy. Earthjustice pioneered this state-level strategy in California in 2017, during the first Trump administration. We’ve since expanded to New York, the D.C. region, and beyond.

We are speeding up the clean energy transition by:

• Electrifying school buses. Children’s lungs are incredibly vulnerable and a disturbing amount of dirty diesel exhaust gets inside school buses. Earthjustice has successfully pushed for electric school buses in New York and Washington State, and we’ll continue working with major school districts like Los Angeles to convert their fleets.
• Decarbonizing homes. Gas appliances used for heating and cooking in our homes both create unhealthy indoor air and are a major source of climate pollution. In 2024, Earthjustice successfully advocated for a neighborhood-scale decarbonization effort for 30 communities and successfully shaped new building codes. We’re now pushing for regulations in states like California and Maryland to shift to clean and efficient heat pumps.
• Cleaning up manufacturing. The industrial sector, which makes everything from glass, cement, and steel, to ice cream and Cheetos, is a major polluter. Yet decarbonizing this sector has been largely ignored, until now. We’ve recently scored groundbreaking wins to electrify gas-powered equipment like water heaters, boilers, and commercial ovens, and we’ll continue this push for a cleaner manufacturing sector.

Earthjustice attorney Shannon Fisk (center) at an Ohio Public Utilities Commission proceeding. (Years of Living Dangerously)

Powering up at the PUCs

Much of our nation’s energy policy is shaped at the state level by public utility commissions. These regulatory bodies often play a key role in deciding whether customers like you will be forced to pay for power from dirty coal, or benefit from energy efficiency programs and clean energy solutions like rooftop solar.

Earthjustice attorneys, in partnership with state and regional partners, have been making the case for clean energy in these often overlooked but immensely important regulatory forums since 2007. Today, we maintain a sustained presence before PUCs in more than a dozen states, while intervening strategically in others to ensure a just and equitable clean energy transition.

Our PUC work is making an outsized impact by:

• Shutting down coal and gas plants. Our team of attorneys have played a key role in securing the early retirement of 158 coal units at 83 plants in 23 states. We’ve argued successfully before PUCs to defeat or shrink 22 methane gas plant proposals in eight states, and we are challenging plans for gas plants in nine states and Puerto Rico.
• Clearing the path for renewable energy. Earthjustice engages deeply in PUC resource planning proceedings in a dozen states from California to West Virginia, and leverages state climate laws in states such as New York, Michigan, Hawaiʻi, and Colorado to ensure that utilities take advantage of cost-effective clean energy.
• Catalyzing electrification. Earthjustice is securing policies and investments to electrify transportation, buildings, and industry. In California, Colorado, and New Mexico, we’ve successfully pushed for increased funding for electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and electric buses. We’re also pushing to convert to all-electric buildings and countering gas utilities in D.C., Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Villagers pass by on the village road as smoke ash spews from the chimney of a coal power plant in Cilegon, Banten province, Indonesia. (Aditya Irawan / NurPhoto via AP)

Supporting International Partners

As a second Trump administration walks away from global leadership on the climate crisis, Earthjustice will be leaning into our international work.

A rapidly diminishing window for avoiding the worst effects of climate change means we need to look for reductions in climate emissions everywhere. At the same time, we’ll scale our clean energy work by helping our partners advocate for removing barriers to renewable energy, as well as litigate to promote progressive national electricity regulations.
We are making headway in places like:

• Indonesia. A groundbreaking ruling in 2021 found government officials guilty of failing to regulate the dirty air coming from coal-fired power plants around the capital. We will work with our partners, ICEL, WALHI, and YLBHI, to leverage the ruling, which mandates that officials devise strategies to control air pollution, in part by decommissioning the most polluting coal plants in the area.
• South Africa. We worked with our partners at Natural Justice, who successfully halted a new offshore gas development in a case representing fishing communities who weren’t consulted in the permitting process. There are scores of similar projects in the pipeline, and we are working with our partners to challenge this planned gas boom, while simultaneously advocating for increased integration of renewable energy into the newly liberalized power market.
• Mexico. If U.S. liquid natural gas (LNG) exports ramp up under a Trump administration, Earthjustice is ready with our Mexican partner, CEMDA, to stop the buildout of the infrastructure that enables this dirty energy usage in Mexico. We are also collaborating to stop U.S. gas producers from using Mexico’s West Coast to facilitate fossil fuel exports to Asia.