CLF is fighting to protect everything we love about New England, from our families to our environments.
The science is clear: If we don’t drastically cut carbon pollution, we put our health, wallets, and future on the line.
Our Solutions
We can and must upgrade to clean, renewable energy while ensuring that no New Englander is left behind. But we won’t get there through individual actions alone. That’s why CLF is tackling the root causes of climate change and pushing clean energy solutions at the state and regional levels.
Today, we are:
- UPGRADING OUR ENERGY SYSTEMS: We’re fighting for laws that will replace dirty fossil energy with cleaner, safer energy to slow the pollution causing our planet to overheat.
- BUILDING OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE: We’re pushing New-England-wide upgrades through policies and projects that boost low-cost, local clean energy, save families and businesses money, and create good-paying jobs.
- AVOIDING THE NATURAL GAS TRAP: We’ve crossed the bridge that natural gas created away from coal and oil. It’s time to prioritize clean, electric technologies to heat and power our buildings. Doing so will save us money, protect our health, and slow our overheating planet.
- GETTING READY FOR CLIMATE IMPACTS: We’re making sure our communities can bounce back from extreme weather we can no longer avoid – so New Englanders will not only survive but thrive for generations to come.
Our Vision
We’re working towards a New England powered by affordable, clean, homemade energy like solar and wind. A New England where our communities are healthy and safe, and our environment is fortified against the impacts of our changing climate. A New England where our children and grandchildren can enjoy everything we love about our region today. This is the future CLF is fighting to create.
What We’re Up Against
Climate change is upending everything we love most about New England. Bigger and more erratic storms are flooding our streets and costing us millions in disaster clean-up costs. More intense heatwaves are threatening our health, triggering respiratory problems, heat exhaustion, heart attacks, and more. Warming waters are pushing fish and other species north, while higher temperatures could shift and compromise growing seasons for core New England crops, from maple syrup to blueberries.
As a region, we’re not yet ready to deal with many of these impacts. Our town and city streets are unprepared for the intensity of today’s storm and floodwaters. The most vulnerable among us are at risk from heat, extreme weather, and high fuel costs. And, while we now have binding climate laws in five out of six New England states, they have yet to be fully implemented and enforced.
We also face an uphill battle with fossil fuel companies that don’t want our clean energy future to happen. They are spending millions to mount an extensive disinformation campaign peddling false narratives about offshore wind turbines endangering whales and other marine life. And they’re at work trying to convince decision makers and the public that fuels like so-called “renewable” natural gas and biofuels are a one-to-one replacement for their dirty product, when that’s far from the truth.
To truly create systemic change on climate change at the local, state, and regional levels, it will take an extensive toolbox of skills in the law, policy, and the markets – the very skills that CLF has spent more than 50 years developing and honing.