Conservation Law Foundation

Healthy & resilient communities: for 50 years clf has fought to create healthy communities for people across new england. It is how we made our name: returning a clean boston harbor to the people and connecting more of us to reliable public transportation. Creating healthy communities that are resilient in the face of climate impacts means putting people and their well-being at the center of our work. That's why we help to create affordable neighborhood housing developments close to open space, healthy food, and public transit. It's why we push for a strong, local food economy regionwide. And it's why we work to make sure people and communities can bounce back from the extreme weather climate change is already bringing to our neighborhoods. Resilience to extreme heat and flooding, safety from hazards like lead and mold, affordable and stable housing, access to healthy and budget-friendly food - these factors and more affect individual health. Collectively, they can add up to greater burdens community-wide, furthering the structural injustices and inequities facing communities of color and people from lower-income neighborhoods. Clf is working to change that script, building on our core strengths, from legislative advocacy to legal watchdog. It also lets us use newer tools, including innovative impact investment strategies and community-based research that centers resident input and direction. Working with community, business, and philanthropic partners, we are transforming systems, markets, and laws to innovate better solutions to advance human and environmental health and resilience.

Ocean Conservation: the ocean plays an integral role in new englanders' lives, our economy, and our communities. However, pollution, overfishing, habitat loss, and climate change threaten its health and our future. Clf has safeguarded new england's ocean for decades - from blocking oil and gas drilling on georges bank, to curbing overfishing, to pioneering smart ocean planning across the region. We fight for a clean, healthy, and productive ocean to ensure that endangered right whales can recover from the brink of extinction, our waters can once again abound with cod and our fisheries flourish, and our most fragile habitats are protected to ensure our waters remain healthy and vibrant for generations to come.

Clean energy & climate change: clf is tackling the root causes of the climate crisis and pushing clean energy solutions at the state and regional levels. We must collectively cut climate-damaging emissions to net-zero by 2050 and transition our economy to one run on clean-renewable energy - while ensuring that no new englander is left behind. Today, clf is fighting for laws that will end our region's addiction to fossil fuels for good; pushing for economy-wide change through policies and projects that boost low-cost local clean energy, save families and businesses money, and create good-paying jobs; stopping unnecessary new gas infrastructure and pushing for concrete utility-scale plans to phase gas out before it can sink our region's climate goals; and making sure our communities can bounce back from the climate fallout we can no longer avoid - so new englanders can not only survive but thrive in a changing climate.

Other programs include the following:environmental justice: for more than 50 years, clf has fought to create healthy communities for people across new england. But the reality is that pollution, climate impacts, and other environmental burdens fall harder on limited english proficient residents and low-income and communities of color than predominantly white neighborhoods. That's why environmental justice is a thread that runs through everything that we do - from stemming childhood lead poisoning to pushing for more accessible public transit, shutting down dirty power plants and incinerators, to partnering with frontline communities on issues that affect their health and quality of life. Litigation: even the strongest environmental laws are toothless until they are enforced, making clf's role as a legal watchdog critical. Pollution from industrial facilities damages our already compromised waterways. Violators of our clean air laws spew hazardous fumes that contribute to asthma and other respiratory diseases. Some of the country's biggest oil companies have engaged in climate neglect that puts our communities and waterways at risk. Clf protects our communities by holding these polluters accountable and pushing for the enforcement of our environmental laws at the local, state, and federal levels. For many of our cases, when clf wins or settles a suit, we hold polluters accountable in a unique way. They fund a supplemental environmental project, or sep, that provides money for valuable protection and restoration projects in the local community damaged by the violation.