Quarterly Impact Report - March 2025

The following report highlights NCEL’s impact between January – March 2025. The report is broken down into four sections – events, policy movement, resources, and partnerships.

NCEL kicked off 2025 by meeting with and educating legislators on the major environmental issues and policy trends emerging this legislative session. This included bringing newly elected legislators into our network, resource creation, and state visits to assist legislators on the ground. NCEL also released its 2024 Annual Report highlighting the growth and successes from last year. View the Annual Report online.

Events

• NCEL Legislator Briefing: On January 27, NCEL hosted a Legislator Briefing to introduce the NCEL network to newly elected legislators and share some of the environmental policy trends to watch this year. 
• NCEL Federal Funding Freeze Rapid Response Call: On March 18, NCEL Climate and Energy Program Manager Ava Gallo organized a briefing designed for state legislators to learn about ways to use their power to support their communities. Attendees heard from Lawyers for Good Government on how to protect existing funding programs. 
• State Visits: NCEL staff traveled to nine state capitols and met with more than 100 state legislators during the first three months of the year. 

Policy Movement

• Bill Tracking: NCEL is tracking over 2,100 bills in 49 states and territories. 
• Session Preview: NCEL released a Session Preview in February highlighting the environmental issues we expected to see trending during legislative sessions.
• Policy Updates: NCEL staff published policy updates covering state action to increase utility transparency, climate accountability, and toxic chemical restrictions. 

Resources

• 2025 Legislator Briefing Book: This year’s Legislator Briefing Book details NCEL’s work to support state lawmakers across the country in their work on a range of environmental policy issues, including clean energy, land and water conservation, sustainable agriculture, coastal resilience, and more.
• Healthy Ocean and Coasts Briefing Book: This resource, created in collaboration with the Seattle Aquarium, offers an overview of key ocean policy issues that state legislators are addressing, highlighting successful policy examples to demonstrate the benefits of effective ocean management.
• New Policy Options: Wildlife Disease and Nature-Based Solutions
• New Fact Sheets and Other Resources: Beaver Conservation and Coexistence and Building Support for Ambitious Climate Programs

Partnerships

• Academic-Public Partnerships for Policy Webinar: On January 29, NCEL hosted a webinar in partnership with the Stanford Woods Institute for Public Policy to highlight the benefits of public and academic partnerships for sound policy outcomes. Learn more.