Leading with Race in Climate Solutions
Climate justice is racial justice. There is no way to advance equitable, effective, and just solutions to climate change without also addressing the marginalization of people of color and the disproportionate burdens that communities of color shoulder as the planet warms.
The U.S. economy is built on racial injustice that permeates public and private structures and systems to this day. Without consciously designing for racial equity, we are limited in our ability to repair past harm and are at risk of perpetuating it.
THE PROBLEM
Opponents of racial justice have been mounting increasingly effective legal attacks on race-conscious policy and action. The new federal administration, and previous Supreme Court decisions to ban affirmative action, are shifting the legal terrain and stoking fear and uncertainty. The confusion and chaos is causing many sectors to walk back or freeze their racial equity efforts entirely. Organizations doing climate equity work are actively targeted and others are scrambling to figure out what’s next.
THE SOLUTION
In order to defend and extend decades of progress on racial justice, we need to come together now to reaffirm our commitment to leading with race in climate change solutions. We need to fully understand our legal options and be able to distinguish between scare tactics and legal constraints.
More than ever we need to double down on co-creating proactive strategies that address this moment of need and transform systems for a racially just climate future.
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Our Resources
UPDATE: EPA IS WEAKENING ITS OWN CIVIL RIGHTS RULES
We covered the DOJ’s dangerous move in December 2025 to gut disparate impact, a legal standard in federal civil rights law that allows policies that cause unequal harm to people to be challenged, even without proof of discriminatory intent. Now EPA is proposing the same rollback to its own rules.
WHAT IS DISPARATE IMPACT AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Download our one-pager resource on changes to disparate impact protections, their impact on climate justice, and what can be done to challenge policies that cause unequal harm. See our update above for what’s changed since, including EPA’s move to roll back its own civil rights rules.
Key Reminders Amidst the Uncertainty of the Trump Administration
Given the constantly shifting legal and political terrain, our team has distilled nine key points to keep in mind as you work to center racial justice in your climate efforts.
FROM THE FIELD
- Advancing Racial Equity: Legal Guidance for Advocates – Othering & Belonging Institute
- Democracy Resilience Toolkit: Prompts and Actions Pocket Guide – Government Alliance on Race and Equity
- FROM PROJECT 2025 TO PROJECT 2029: How We Resist an Authoritarian Takeover and Turn Public Administration into a Force for Equity and Justice – Race Forward
- Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions – Just Security
- How to Win the Messaging War: Fighting Back Against Attacks on DEI – Leading With Race Webinar with American Pride Rises
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