Our impact

With the help of more than 3 million members and activists, we take a pragmatic approach that benefits people and nature.

See how your continuing support makes great things happen.

EDF does constructive, thoughtful, hard work that gains respect – and results.
George P. Shultz, Former U.S. Secretary of State

Biggest environmental law in a generation targets chemical safety

Impact: President Obama signed the Lautenberg Act in 2016, reforming our inadequate, decades-old chemical safety law.
Our role: Over several years, EDF worked strategically with members in both political parties and with other organizations to craft a balanced bill.

Next step: Work with retailers to make products safer »

Impact: Walmart’s success at reducing toxic chemicals in household products was followed by similar actions from CVS, Target, Johnson & Johnson and Colgate.
Our role: We provided scientific guidance to Walmart on how to develop a leadership policy that sets a standard for safer chemicals in the marketplace.

Next step: Help more companies follow the standard »

Impact: The number of overfished stocks has dropped from 92 to 38 since 2000¹ – a dramatic reversal from decades of overfishing.
Our role: We introduced catch shares, a management system now widely used. Catch shares give fishermen a stake in the overall health of a fishery.

Next step: Make sustainable fishing the global norm »

Impact: Federal rules limit harmful methane emissions on 245 million acres of taxpayer-owned and tribal lands, saving money and protecting health.
Our role: We drove the science and advocacy that led to federal action, and the activism that thwarted efforts in the U.S. Senate to repeal the methane emission rules.

Next step: Back more policies targeting methane waste »

Impact: The EPA’s plan would dramatically reduce carbon emissions from power plants and ramp up the clean energy market. But under the Trump administration, the EPA has moved to repeal it.
Our role: We rallied our members and partners to send comments in support of the plan and defended it in court.

Next step: Fight the attempts to undermine the Clean Power Plan »

Impact: The world’s top emitter of greenhouse gases, China announced it will launch a national carbon market in 2017.
Our role: Our staff in China provided critical technical assistance for seven pilot carbon markets, building on our success solving acid rain in the U.S.

Next step: Assist China as it launches carbon market »

Photo: Jiri Rezac

Impact: EDF Climate Corps has helped top companies uncover nearly $1.5 billion in wasted energy.² One in three Fortune 100 companies have hosted Climate Corps fellows.³
Our role: Each year we train hundreds of graduate students and embed them at leading organizations to find tangible ways to reduce energy use.

Next step: Cultivate new leaders of climate action »

Impact: A new conservation tool known as habitat exchanges helps save vulnerable wildlife before they need endangered species protection.
Our role: We created the habitat exchange system, then brought together some unlikely allies – including farmers and energy developers – to help protect the declining greater sage-grouse.

Next step: Create more habitat exchanges for wildlife »

Photo: Steven Nehl

Impact: Corporations ranging from Walmart to Smithfield Foods committed to optimize fertilizer use and improve soil conservation on 23 million acres of U.S. crops.
Our role: We’ve developed collaborations with partners across the grain supply chain to showcase the benefits of using fertilizers more efficiently.

Next step: Make even more cropland sustainable »

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