For most environmentalists, the day that Donald Trump got elected president in November was “a dark day.” But there was one small, overlooked corner of the movement that celebrated. In a statement congratulating Trump on his victory, the leaders of the American Conservation Coalition saw a chance to bring “an America-first climate strategy” to fruition. “Now, we will build a new era of American industry and win the clean energy arms race,” they wrote.

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit was founded in 2017 by college students who wanted to prove that there was a conservative case for climate action. Since then, it’s evolved from a group on the right’s fringes into a political force. The American Conservation Coalition has wide grassroots support, with some 60,000 members in branches around the country and connections all over Congress. Trump’s second term, which starts on Monday, will be a test of how strong its influence has become.

“I think there’s a golden opportunity right now for Republicans to shift the environment from a left-wing issue that Republicans lose on to a conservative issue that they can win on,” said Chris Barnard, the organization’s president. “And by the end of this administration, that is what we hope to achieve, and hope to have real, tangible progress and solutions that point back to that show that.”

The group has extensive ties to Trump’s Cabinet nominees, according to Barnard. Liberty Energy’s CEO Chris Wright, nominated for secretary of energy, is a “personal friend” to the American Conservation Coalition, or ACC, and recently hosted a fundraiser for the coalition. Former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department, led a town hall in New Hampshire with Barnard during his six-month presidential run in 2023; Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, has worked on various issues with the ACC.

“If that’s the yardstick — helping Republicans get engaged on climate — they’ve been a resounding success,” said Matthew Burgess, an environmental economist at the University of Wyoming who studies how to depolarize climate change. In his estimation, the Republican Party has perceptibly shifted its stance on climate change, moving away from outright denial in recent years. “Whatever movement there’s been on the Republican side, the ACC is probably easily the single most important advocacy group on that.”

You wouldn’t mistake the American Conservation Coalition’s platform for one found on a progressive climate group’s website. The top three priorities are unleashing nuclear energy, reforming the permitting process to make it easier to build new energy projects, and beating China by “leading the world in all-of-the-above energy production.” That includes more oil and gas development, in line with Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda. In his first week, Trump is expected to push to undo President Joe Biden’s limits on offshore drilling and federal lands, roll back emissions standards for vehicles, and end a freeze on new projects to export liquefied natural gas.

“Our approach will always be distinct from the approach of a progressive group, because it’s guided by conservative principles like innovation and deregulation and empowering individuals and local communities,” said Danielle Butcher Franz, the CEO of the ACC. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re not on the same page about the severity of these issues.”

Read the full article about conservative climate action by Kate Yoder at Grist.