Our impact
With the help of two million members, we take a pragmatic approach that benefits people and nature.
See how your support is making great things happen.
EDF does constructive, thoughtful, hard work that gains respect—and results.
George P. Shultz Former U.S. Secretary of State
Safeguarding: Human health
Biggest environmental law in a generation
- Impact: President Obama signed the Lautenberg Act in 2016, reforming our inadequate, decades-old chemical safety law.
- Our role: Over several years, worked strategically with members in both political parties and with other organizations to craft a balanced bill.
- Next: Work with retailers to make products safer »
Thousands of consumer products get 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: Help more companies follow the standard »
Restoring: Healthy oceans
84% of U.S. fish stocks are now at healthy levels
- 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: Make sustainable fishing the global norm »
Reducing: Climate pollution
Oil and gas companies must curb methane emissions
- 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 bred federal action, and the activism that thwarted efforts in the U.S. Senate to repeal the rules.
- Next: Back more policies targeting methane waste »
Clean Power Plan puts first-ever limits on power plant pollution
- Impact: EPA’s plan will dramatically reduce carbon emissions from power plants.
- Our role: We rallied our members and partners to send comments in support of the plan—part of the more than 8 million positive comments from around the country.
- Next: Defend the plan from opponents »
China rolls out a bold climate action 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: Assist China as it launches carbon market »
Photo: Jiri Rezac
Hundreds of companies learn new ways to boost energy efficiency
- Impact: EDF Climate Corps has helped top companies uncover nearly $1.5 billion in wasted energy2 . One in three Fortune 100 companies have hosted fellows.3
- Our role: Each year we train hundreds of graduate students and embed them at leading organizations to find tangible ways to use less energy.
- Next: Cultivate new leaders of climate action »
Protecting: Vulnerable ecosystems
A breakthrough for threatened wildlife and habitat
- Impact: A new conservation tool known as habitat exchanges steps in to save vulnerable wildlife before they need endangered species protection.
- Our role: We created the exchange system, then brought together unlikely allies—including farmers and energy developers—to help protect the declining greater sage-grouse.
- Next: Create more habitat exchanges for wildlife »
Photo: Steven Nehl
Agricultural leaders take major steps to reduce fertilizer pollution
- 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 across the grain supply chain to showcase the benefits of using fertilizers more efficiently.
- Next: Make even more cropland sustainable »
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- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Fisheries. Status of Stocks 2016. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/fisheries_eco/status_of_fisheries/archive/2016/status-of-stocks-2016-web.pdf
- EDF Climate Corps. http://edfclimatecorps.org/impact/our-impact
- EDF Climate Corps. http://edfclimatecorps.org/hosts/advance-your-energy-management-program