2024 Policy Roadmap

We have the power to influence America’s climate policy. Here’s a high-level overview of the policy opportunities CCL is working on, based on our chosen policy areas and our Government Affairs team’s insights about the political landscape. We’re nearly at the end of the road for 2024, so the roadmap also includes milestones of what we’ve achieved throughout this year. 

New! Interactive Roadmap 🗺️

2024 milestones at a glance:

• 11,476 messages to Congress urging them to work on bipartisan clean energy permitting reform legislation
• Senate committee passes PROVE IT Act
• 11,329 messages to Congress asking them to protect climate-smart forestry and agriculture funding in the Farm Bill
• 47 lobby meetings at our Conservative Climate Leadership Conference & Lobby Day
• 8,747 messages to Congress building more support for the PROVE IT Act
• Weekly phone banks to voters in partnership with Environmental Voter Project
• Senate committee passes Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act
• 9,574 messages to Congress sharing new carbon pricing research 
• 1,870 calls to Congress building more support for the PROVE IT Act
• 442 lobby meetings at our Summer Conference and Lobby Day
• PROVE IT Act introduced in House 
• 14 new bipartisan cosponsors across our two secondary asks: Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act and the Increased TSP Access Act
• ADVANCE Act signed into law
• Energy Permitting Reform Act introduced
• Senate committee passes Energy Permitting Reform Act
• 9,204 messages to Congress in support of the Energy Permitting Reform Act
• 3,408 conversations about home electrification
• 1,040,831 dials to environmental voters throughout the year
• 12,508 post-election climate messages sent to Congress 
• HEATS Act passes House

Behind the wheel

As a grassroots advocacy group with 220,000 supporters and 381 chapters, we’ve been driving climate action in Congress all year long.

Power in the 118th Congress is split between the parties: Republicans control the House, and Democrats control the Senate, both with slim majorities. In the first year of this Congress, we already saw that configuration lead to some encouraging bipartisan collaboration, and that trend has continued into this second year.

It’s also important to note that 2024 was an election year. Congress was focused on campaigning between August and November 5, 2024 (Election Day), so not much legislating happened during that period. We used campaign season as an opportunity to bump climate action higher on every lawmaker’s priority list, and to mobilize voters. Now that we’re past Election Day, we’re pushing for additional legislative action in the lame duck period.

In the fast lane

Our work this year is happening in a few major lanes on the advocacy highway: carbon pricing, clean energy permitting reform, healthy forests, building electrification and efficiency, and election season. 

CCL staff gives you guidance about when and how to take specific actions in these areas, so that all chapters and volunteers are headed in the same direction. You've probably seen that guidance in the monthly Climate Action Program emails, the monthly Action Sheets, and in our monthly meetings. 

Beyond that, you may change lanes according to what’s most exciting to your chapter, relevant to your community, or important to your member of Congress. We’ll see how the road trip goes! (Just, you know, use your blinker.)

Activities & milestones along the way

On the visual version of the roadmap, you can see road signs detailing our activities, as well as pins marking milestones we’ve achieved along the way. Each one is color coded to indicate the relevant policy area. Starting at the beginning of the 2024 road, here are the activities and milestones we’ve seen so far:

• Push for a permitting reform package - In 2023, we engaged heavily on clean energy permitting reform with emails, calls and lobby meetings throughout the year. Some permitting reforms passed in the June 2023 debt ceiling deal, and further opportunities emerged with the introduction of the BIG WIRES Act. Here’s the progress we’ve made this year:
  • 11,476 messages to Congress urging them to work on bipartisan clean energy permitting reform legislation (Jan. 9 - Feb. 5).
  • 47 lobby meetings at our Conservative Climate Leadership Conference & Lobby Day. Clean energy permitting reform legislation, including specific bills like the ADVANCE Act, was the primary ask in these meetings.
  • 442 lobby meetings at our Summer Conference and Lobby Day. Clean energy permitting reform was one of the primary asks in these meetings.
  • ADVANCE Act passed the Senate by 88-2 and was signed into law in July 2024.
  • The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 was introduced in July 2024, including the core components of the BIG WIRES Act dealing with clean energy transmission. We mobilized calls to committee members and it was quickly passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on July 31, 2024.
  • When Congress returned from August recess, we sent 9,204 messages to offices in support of the Energy Permitting Reform Act
  • The Energy Permitting Reform Act is a primary ask in our upcoming December 2024 virtual lobby meetings.
     
• Advance the conversation on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs) - The CBAM conversation leapt forward in 2023. Two Senate Republicans put forward the Foreign Pollution Fee Act. Democrats in the House and Senate reintroduced the Clean Competition Act. And last but not least, the PROVE IT Act was introduced, and CCL supports this bill. The PROVE IT Act would direct the Department of Energy study and measure the carbon intensity of certain manufactured goods, which we need in order to negotiate with trading partners who have their own border carbon tariffs. Here’s the progress we’ve made this year:
  • The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee announced a markup and vote of this bill in January 2024, and CCL volunteers mobilized calls to the relevant Senators to help the bill pass the committee with even more bipartisan support than expected! 
  • 8,747 messages to Congress in March, urging cosponsorship of the PROVE IT Act.
  • 1,870 calls to Congress building more support for the PROVE IT Act.
  • 442 lobby meetings at our Summer Conference and Lobby Day. The PROVE IT Act was one of the primary asks in these meetings.
  • PROVE IT Act introduced in House in June 2024, with more than a dozen additional cosponsors signing on after initial introduction 
     
• Elevate climate during the primary elections - For most districts, the primary elections are the best chance to elevate climate-friendly candidates from either party. This year, we’ve partnered with the Environmental Voter Project to hold weekly phone banks to environmental voters. In the first three months of the year, when most of the primary elections were taking place, these volunteers made more than 94,753 dials and had more than 8,700 minutes of conversation with environmental voters.
   
• Build in-district support for carbon fee and dividend - The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act was reintroduced in the House in 2023, and to advance this legislation — and the idea of carbon fee and dividend generally — we need to demonstrate even more support in our communities. This spring, our chapters gathered Energy Innovation Act constituent letters and planned drop-offs of those letters to their representative’s district office.
   
• Advocate for climate policy in the Farm Bill - The Farm Bill is a big, diverse package of legislation that comes up for renegotiation and renewal once every five years. Near the end of last year, Congress passed an extension through September 2024. They may pass another extension into 2025, but whatever the ultimate timeline, our outreach is laying a very strong foundation defending the climate funding and other relevant climate policy that we want to see included. Here’s the progress we’ve made this year:
  • 11,329 messages to Congress asking them to protect climate-smart forestry and agriculture funding in the Farm Bill (Feb. 6 - March 4)
  • Senate committee passes Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act
  • 442 lobby meetings at our Summer Conference and Lobby Day. The Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act and the Increased TSP Access Act were both secondary asks in these meetings.
  • 14 new bipartisan cosponsors across our two secondary asks in the days and weeks following our lobbying
     
• Educate about electrification - The Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022, includes all sorts of incentives designed to increase access to clean technology in our homes. Most of those incentives are already available, and the rest will become available in the second half of 2024. The month of August, we launched an “Electrification Month” outreach campaign, aiming to hold 3,000 conversations to educate our communities about electrification and the tax credits available through the IRA. We exceeded our goal and held 3,408 conversations in the month of August.
   
• Get out the environmental vote - A key way we can ensure Congress prioritizes climate change is by getting environmentalists to the polls. But lots of environmentalists don’t vote!  To make sure they turn out, we encouraged people at our tabling events to register and to vote, and we phone banked, postcarded and canvassed alongside our friends at Environmental Voter Project all year long. By Election Day, our volunteers had made 1,040,831 dials to environmental voters throughout the year.
   
• Lean in during the lame duck period - The 2024 election results shifted the balance of power in Washington for 2025, with Republicans set to hold the majority in the House, take the majority in the Senate, and President-elect Trump heading back to the White House. We sent 12,508 post-election climate messages to Congress urging them to prioritize climate in the final weeks of this Congress, and we are working to push more climate policy across the finish line in our December 2024 lobby meetings.

Conferences & Lobby Days

• Conservative Climate Conference & Lobby Day - Every March, right-of-center CCLers gather together in Washington, D.C., to connect with each other and to meet with Republican members of Congress about climate policy. At this year’s event, 56 right-of-center CCL volunteers attended trainings, heard from guest speakers on the EcoRight, and then traveled to Capitol Hill for 47 lobby meetings with Republican offices. 
   
• Summer Conference & Lobby Day - This is CCL’s biggest annual show of grassroots force, when volunteers come to Washington, D.C., from every state in the nation to learn together and then hold hundreds of in-person citizen lobby meetings on Capitol Hill. At this year’s event, nearly 1,000 CCL volunteers attended sessions, heard from guest speakers, and then traveled to Capitol Hill for 442 lobby meetings with congressional offices.
   
• Inclusion Conference - Our strength as a grassroots coalition comes from our cultural and political diversity. This annual event helps us connect across our differences, making our organization as “big tent” and welcoming as possible, so that we can make a big impact in our communities and on our congressional representatives. This year’s event took place Sept. 20-21.
   
• Fall Conference & Lobbying - Another conference and nationwide round of lobbying late in the year — this time virtual — gives us another chance to send Congress a big, clear message and advance our policy priorities
   
• Regional & state conferences - Throughout the year, CCL regions may organize their own regional or state conferences and lobby days to further grow their local grassroots and apply additional pressure to lawmakers to act.
   

Get ready to hit the road

• Create your 2024 Chapter Action Plan
• Sign up for CCL’s text alerts so you get notified of monthly action opportunities
• Ensure your chapter has liaisons identified and ready to set lobby meetings this year