A conservation group founded by young conservatives has pulled out all the stops in the hopes of being a player with Republicans in Washington.
Whether that push from the American Conservation Coalition bears fruit remains a big question.
Over the past several years, the group has made inroads with key officials who went on to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. It co-hosted a glitzy influencer party the night before Trump’s inauguration alongside TikTok, the social media app. And its co-founder helped spark the idea for a first-of-its kind House GOP caucus dedicated to climate.
All this activity comes at an opportune time for the ACC, as Republicans show a newfound appreciation for Gen Z after more young people — who also tend to care more about climate change — shifted rightward in the 2024 elections. That shift helped the party clinch its government trifecta, according to exit polls.
“What you’re noticing is years of our strategy paying off and coming to fruition,” said CEO Danielle Franz, who helped launch the group in 2017.
“We have known for a long time that conservatives want to come to the table on our issue set, and they want to have a voice on climate, energy and conservation. And what we’re seeing now is the groundwork the ACC has laid being rewarded,” she said.
After laying that groundwork, ACC is now trying to influence Republicans in power as the party seeks to overhaul federal permitting standards and forest management laws. It’s also hoping to push Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda with an environmental lens, among other initiatives.
ACC Action, the group’s advocacy affiliate, held a fly-in this week, bringing members of the group to Washington to lobby lawmakers including Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), and Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.).
The group’s co-founder and executive chair, Benji Backer, has met with administration officials including EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. He recently posted photos of himself outside the White House.
Allies or adversaries?
The Republican Party is far less friendly to environmental and climate change policies than Democrats — some GOP lawmakers fully deny that climate is changing or that human activity is causing it — and party leaders have been hard at work figuring out how to dismantle rules and laws to address a warming planet and promote cleaner energy sources.
Franz acknowledges all that. She says she’s “excited” at Trump’s Cabinet picks and his focus on energy. But she said ACC got to where it is, and helped get the Republican Party to where it is, through different approaches.
“The skepticism that some people have sensed from Republicans on these issues really stems from the fact that they haven’t had a vehicle to talk productively about that,” she said.
People trying to get Republicans to talk about climate change have often been aligned with liberal causes, Franz said, and ACC is trying to change that.
“Who has been asking conservatives to engage on these issues? For a long time, it wasn’t voices that they identified with. And how are these voices engaging with Republicans? Are they viewing Republicans and conservatives as allies or as adversaries?”
Franz and Benji Backer launched ACC in 2017 to promote the idea that young conservatives care about climate change and the environment.
The organization acknowledges human-induced climate change, but pushes policies that Republicans generally like — such as increased forest management, use of natural gas and nuclear energy — as ideas that would be good for the environment.
It supported failed legislation like the Senate’s bipartisan “Energy Permitting Reform Act,” the fossil fuel heavy “Lower Energy Costs Act” and the GOP-led “Fix Our Forests Act.”
It backed some parts of the Democrats’ 2022 climate law, like those that sought to boost nuclear energy and critical minerals, but didn’t support the legislation as a whole.
Backer left day-to-day operations in 2023. In January he launched a new initiative, Nature Is Nonpartisan, to push conservation outside of party politics.
ACC has gotten at least some of its funding from philanthropic sources that give money to other mainstream or liberal groups, like the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the U.S. Energy Foundation.
‘They have credibility’
In addition to close involvement with Young Republicans, College Republicans and other youth-centrist GOP organizations, ACC got involved in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, though it stopped short of endorsing a candidate.
Instead, it hosted climate-focused town hall events with candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Burgum, and promoted the various candidates’ positions and answers to questions. Other hopefuls were invited, but only Ramaswamy and Burgum took ACC up on the offer.
Burgum isn’t the only Trump official ACC has worked with. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former oil executive, spoke at ACC’s annual summit in 2023, and the group had previously endorsed EPA head Lee Zeldin for reelection to Congress.
But ACC has laid the groundwork for this moment in other ways too, such as hosting events with congressional Republicans and helping establish the Conservative Climate Caucus in 2021, following a hike Backer took with then-Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), who went on to launch the caucus. Miller-Meeks is the current chair.
“It’s hard for me to imagine a group that’s better positioned than they are,” said Matthew Burgess, a University of Wyoming professor who studies climate change and economic growth.
Burgess contrasted ACC with other bipartisan or conservative climate groups like the Citizens Climate Lobby and RepublicEn, which support a price on carbon emissions.
Both lack the credibility within the GOP that ACC has, he said.
“They represent a good slice of the Republican Party on a broader suite of issues than a lot of the other groups do. I get the sense that some of their leaders are very conservative, and fit into the Trump-supportive portions of the base. And others of them seem more moderate,” Burgess said, citing ACC leaders’ social media presence and support for conservative ideas around issues like faith and health.
“They have legitimacy, they have credibility.”
Others in the conservative environmental movement are happy about ACC’s work.
“With Republicans in control of both Congress and the White House, groups like ACC and CRES play a crucial role in the future of clean energy, whether in defending clean energy tax credits or negotiating permitting reform,” Heather Reams, president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions and a member of ACC’s board, said via email.
“ACC has created an opportunity for young conservatives who are passionate about ensuring a cleaner future to connect with each other and get involved — both in their communities and beyond.”
Burgess gives ACC at least some credit for the Republican Party’s status on the environment and climate, like the House’s Conservative Climate Caucus and the fact that Burgum, Wright and Zeldin do not deny climate change or humans’ role in it.
“I think the time is right for the Republicans,” Burgess said. “I think that they’re starting to understand that ‘Do Nothing’ is a losing position, and also that the Democrats have some vulnerabilities on this issue.”
So far, at least, ACC likes what it sees from Trump on their issues.
“We remain excited about the highly qualified leadership in President Trump’s cabinet and the way energy is taking center stage in this administration’s priorities. A focus on American energy dominance and innovation is critical to both economic growth and emissions reductions, and we’re encouraged to see it at the forefront,” Franz said via email.
She added that she’s “cautiously optimistic” that Trump’s cuts to the National Park Service and Forest Service will benefit those agencies.
