EDF Impact 2024

The world’s forests absorb 1.5 times more carbon pollution than the U.S. emits annually. EDF works with communities, businesses and governments to broker large-scale agreements that safeguard forests and the climate.

From California to Brazil, forests are being devastated at an alarming rate, due to catastrophic wildfires, logging and more. Engaging with local and Indigenous communities is central to halting this decline.  

In California, where fires destroyed more than 1 million acres of forest in 2024, EDF supported the Karuk Tribe’s successful effort to pass legislation that restores tribal sovereignty over cultural burning. Cultural burns – the intentional lighting of small, controlled fires – have been central to Indigenous cultures for generations. Throughout the Western U.S., EDF worked to enact management practices that improve forest health and can prevent flare-ups from becoming devastating wildfires. 

In South and Central America, EDF worked with Indigenous and local communities, including 1,200 leaders in Brazil alone, to support their efforts to preserve forests and benefit from international finance for conservation. In the Brazilian state of Pará, a historic, $180 million agreement will fund programs to further reduce deforestation and support sustainable economic development. 

Thanks to a landmark deal EDF helped finalize in 2024, Ghana and Costa Rica will receive more than $60 million for forest conservation and sustainable development, benefiting Indigenous and local communities.

And because participating in carbon markets involves highly technical processes, we mobilized $25 million to help governments committed to forest preservation to build the necessary capacity to begin.  

What’s next?
EDF is helping broker carbon credit purchase agreements that are projected to conserve tens of millions of acres of the world’s most biodiverse regions. We are also building support for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, a multinational fund that provides incentives to tropical forest nations to slow and reverse deforestation.

Sustainable futures
Tatiana Martínez, a leader of the Indigenous Bribri people in Costa Rica, is participating in efforts to bring vital funding for forest protection and sustainable development to her community via carbon markets. Through workshops and on-the-ground engagement, EDF supports communities like the Bribri as they work to overcome the bureaucratic and technical challenges of participating in these markets. “This is an opportunity for Indigenous territories and especially women to participate in and understand the negotiations that affect our forests, our environment and our lives,” says Martínez.

Thanks to record investments unlocked by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. made historic progress toward a cleaner, more prosperous economy in 2024. EDF advocated for the effective use of those dollars to deliver maximum benefits across the country.

Some 30,000 electric trucks and nearly 5,000 electric school buses are now on U.S. roads, with many more American-made clean vehicles on the way. EDF’s engagement with state agencies, manufacturers, fleet operators and communities was instrumental in hastening the rollout. Together with our affiliate Moms Clean Air Force, we’re ensuring that kids in neighborhoods battling poor air quality get electric buses first.   

The two laws have also resulted in the announcement of more than 300,000 new clean energy jobs. And they are helping states prepare for extreme weather, even as hurricane recovery continues across the Southeast. In North Carolina, EDF worked with Governor Cooper to direct $421 million toward nature-based flood solutions, including reforesting 55,000 acres and restoring 33,000 acres of wetlands and coastal habitats. 

And, across 26 states, EDF’s research and on-the-ground advocacy has helped to seal more than 10,000 abandoned, leaky oil and gas wells, reducing pollution that’s harmful to both the climate and people’s health. There are many more “orphan wells” to seal, but already the benefit is equivalent to taking tens of thousands of cars off the road. 

What’s next? 
EDF is ensuring that climate initiatives around the world deliver results. In the U.S., we will work to safeguard Biden-era investments, helping ensure that the U.S. stays competitive in the global clean energy race and providing people with abundant, cheaper energy, and family-sustaining jobs. In Europe, we are helping secure concrete implementation of the European Green Deal which aims to slash carbon emissions by at least 55% by 2030. We’re also serving as a resource to the International Maritime Organization’s member states as they move to cut pollution from the vast global shipping industry.

A clean ride for students 
Carmen Cortez, a school bus driver in Maryland, is a trailblazer in the U.S.’s electric bus rollout. “I resisted at first, because I did not know what this change implied,” she says. “But the day I drove the vehicle I could feel how quiet it was, and the most important thing is that I was able to breathe cleaner air.” Now, she trains other drivers on electric buses for the district’s program, which is set to expand from 86 to 326 electric buses in the coming years. “This change is not only felt by me, but also by the students on my bus and the neighbors who live on my routes,” she says.

Visionary technology developed by EDF is revealing the facts about methane pollution from the oil and gas industry and driving action to reduce it.

On March 4, 2024, an eager crowd gathered in the bright sunshine at California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. They arched their heads skyward, watched in awed silence, and then roared as MethaneSAT, EDF’s world-changing, methane-hunting satellite, lifted off into space. The satellite is able to detect pollution other satellites can’t, making it a vital tool in EDF’s efforts to reduce the world’s emissions of methane.  

The main component of gas used for heating, cooking and generating electricity, methane is responsible for about 30% of today’s global warming. Finding and fixing leaks and cutting routine emissions from oil and gas operations is the fastest way to slow climate change now.  

Initial, high-precision images from the satellite were released this fall. In early 2025, MethaneSAT will publicly release data through Google Earth Engine and MethaneSAT’s own portal.  

A new partnership with the International Energy Agency and the U.N.’s International Methane Emissions Observatory will use this and other information to monitor pollution from the world’s 100 largest oil and gas producers. It will also track the progress of more than 50 oil and gas companies that have pledged to reduce their methane pollution by as much as 90%.

What’s next? 
In the EU, the world’s largest gas importer, MethaneSAT data will support new methane rules that EDF helped develop. By 2030, oil and gas companies selling into the EU market will be required to meet the region’s new standards for methane pollution reductions. Japan, also a major importer, has formed a new alliance with the European Commission to tackle methane emissions.

Google and EDF have a long history of working together to map pollution and provide data that can help solve environmental challenges. The MethaneSAT collaboration represents a great opportunity to address the urgent challenge of climate change.

— Karen Tuxen-Bettman, PhD, Outreach Director, Google Earth

The next challenge
Hydrogen could be a clean alternative to fossil fuels, and billions of dollars are pouring into hydrogen projects around the world. But without careful attention to how it’s made, managed and used, hydrogen can have climate downsides. One issue: The gas escapes easily, contributing to global warming. EDF, along with industry and academic partners (Utrecht University researcher Ceres Woolley Maisch, pictured), is launching a first-of-its-kind study to measure hydrogen emissions in real-world settings, using a new, fast, high-precision sensor. Testing and preparations are underway to measure emissions at multiple locations in Europe and the U.S. By shedding light on how much hydrogen is emitted, and from where, the research will help determine how to minimize emissions and ensure this growing industry delivers the climate benefits the world needs.

An unprecedented alliance of food and dairy companies, spearheaded by EDF, is stepping up to cut methane emissions from livestock.  

Methane pollution is accelerating global warming. Globally, agriculture is responsible for nearly 40% of this climate pollution, the majority of which comes from livestock.      

In December 2023, six of the world’s leading dairy and food companies joined forces with EDF to establish the first-of-its-kind Dairy Methane Action Alliance. The companies committed to annually calculate and publicly disclose methane emissions from their dairy supply chains and create plans to reduce those emissions. 

This spring, Starbucks and Clover Sonoma joined Bel Group, Danone, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Lactalis USA and Nestlé in the alliance. Together, the companies represent $230 billion in annual global sales.  

In November 2024, Bel Group and Lactalis USA made good on their promise and disclosed their dairy methane footprints – a groundbreaking move toward transparency. More disclosures from other alliance members are expected in early 2025.  

Danone and Bel Group have both conducted successful trials with Bovaer, the first feed additive for cutting methane from cow burps, and are now looking to scale its use. EDF is helping ensure farmers have financial support to use solutions such as Bovaer, which was cleared for market by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in 2024 and can reduce methane emissions by up to 30%.  

What’s next?
In 2025, alliance members will publish their plans to drive down methane from dairy in their supply chains, and EDF will work to expand this historic alliance by calling other leaders to join.   

EDF has been a critical thought partner for Danone, providing us with guidance from the onset of our methane commitment and has now united our industry behind a common agenda to tackle methane emissions.

— Henri Bruxelles, Chief Sustainability and Strategic Business Development Officer, Danone

Tackling methane emissions from cows
EDF experts visited the Cornell Dairy Research Center in Ithaca, New York (below), where scientists are testing strategies that can help farmers reduce agricultural methane. Cows produce methane from enteric emissions (mostly burps) and from their manure, when it decomposes under certain conditions. Changing how it is stored and treated can substantially reduce methane from manure, while changing a cow’s diet and supplementing it with feed additives has the potential to dramatically slash enteric emissions.

EDF worked with partners in 39 countries, helping millions of food producers access locally tailored, profitable, climate-smart practices.

Farmers use nitrogen fertilizer to ensure a bountiful crop. But plants can’t use every ounce of it, and adding excess not only eats into profits — it also creates the powerful climate pollutant nitrous oxide, pollutes water and causes other environmental harms. 

EDF scientists developed the N-balance model as a user-friendly way for farmers to calculate the right range of fertilizer use for their crops. In the state of Bihar, India, 3,500 farmers used the tool to reduce their nitrogen use by an average of 25%, without affecting productivity.        

Today, through partners in India, 40,000 farmers are using N-balance to save money and reduce pollution. EDF partners have also trained 20,000 agricultural consultants in this and other sustainable practices, extending the reach of money-saving, pollution-cutting tools to millions. 

I manage to save 300-400 rupees [about $4] per acre. I have used this money to buy more seeds as well as spend on my children’s education.

— Jay Prakash Prasad, rice farmer, Bihar, India

In the U.S., where N-balance can be used by farmers across 6 million acres of land, EDF is encouraging new streams of financing for climate-smart farming. A coalition EDF helped create this year will tap into $7 billion in federal funding to reduce climate pollution. And CoBank, one of the largest private agricultural lenders in the U.S., worked with EDF to create a novel loan that will offer lower interest rates to support farmers who protect soil health and water quality — a model for other lenders to follow. 

What’s next? 
A new climate and animal health initiative, announced by EDF, Global Methane Hub and others at the UN’s global climate summit, COP29, will accelerate research and ramp up on-the-ground support for small farmers worldwide. The work will focus on delivering improvements to livestock health that also reduce methane emissions and enhance human health and nutrition.   

In climate-smart fishing, women lead the charge
Across the world, more than 3 billion people depend on fish for nutrition. But climate change is upending ocean ecosystems and fishers’ livelihoods. In Sumatra, Indonesia, Suwati (pictured) founded a women’s organization that developed new markets and products derived from blue swimming crabs. In 2024, EDF worked with partners like Suwati in 12 countries to support fishing communities as they navigate toward a profitable, sustainable future. These communities also strengthen compliance with regulations to combat illegal fishing. “We’re making sure the food we depend on will remain available for future generations,” says Suwati.

EDF helped secure long-awaited health and climate protections in the U.S. The new rules, vigorously defended by our attorneys, will slash billions of tons of pollution and save thousands of lives.

Communities will breathe cleaner air thanks to tougher limits on mercury and cancer-causing pollutants from smokestacks. New standards will dramatically reduce climate emissions from power plants and keep 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. And a suite of new tailpipe standards for cars, trucks and buses will slash climate pollution, create more jobs and save over 20,000 lives.   

These are just a few of the new, lifesaving Environmental Protection Agency standards that EDF helped secure in 2024.     

EDF’s Executive Director Amanda Leland joined EPA Administrator Michael Regan and auto industry leaders to announce the clean car standards. “This is a day to celebrate American achievement,” she said. “These standards will supercharge economic expansion and make America stronger.”

We also helped win more protective limits on dangerous soot pollution and on toxic pollution from more than 200 petrochemical facilities. And, after a multiyear campaign, we helped secure a near total ban of the highly toxic chemical methylene chloride, as well as a stronger rule that lays the foundation for eliminating lead water pipes nationwide. 

Throughout the year, EDF’s deep bench of attorneys, scientists and advocates worked steadfastly to make the rules as enduring and protective as possible. Attempts to halt several protections have already been denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

What’s next? 
EDF attorneys are working with public health groups, community organizations, states and many allies to vigorously defend these carefully crafted standards from litigation. 

A son’s legacy 
Wendy Hartley’s son, Kevin, died in 2017 after being exposed to methylene chloride while refinishing a bathtub. He was just 21. For years, Hartley worked alongside EDF to secure a ban on this toxic chemical found in paint strippers. In April, those efforts succeeded when the EPA announced it would phase out most uses of methylene chloride. Kevin, an organ donor who saved four lives, now continues to save even more. “That’s his legacy,” Hartley says.