The Important Role That Black Communities Play In Addressing Climate Change

Did you know that Black communities and organizations are serving as climate innovation hubs that provide clean energy, clean water, affordable green housing, and healthy food?

It’s clear that an urgent need exists to make transparent the climate, environmental, and clean energy actions that are underway from Black communities. Arising in response to the escalating climate crisis and its far-reaching social, ecological, and political implications, many Black communities are mobilizing, organizing, and strategizing — from hyper-local actions to global next steps. What started with the Black Lives Matter movement has increasingly brought attention to climate change as both a global environmental crisis and human rights issue that disproportionately affects people of color.

Black communities are fighting back, and, during the 2026 Black Climate Week, The Solutions Project is joining the NAACP to highlight the important role that Black communities are playing to address climate change.

Black Climate Week is capturing the collective climate momentum of Black communities by highlighting thousands of stories that have inspired ongoing justice-led climate action. Ena Coleman, programs and engagement manager at The Solutions Project and founder of Black Climate Week, explains that “Black communities are playing an outsized role in creating climate solutions that protect the planet, create jobs, and enhance quality of life.”

In the US and globally, Black communities have been traditionally and disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and have had fewer resources to cope. Their demands for climate justice are rooted in the recognition that climate change both arises from and further entrenches a global network of layered inequalities, in which those who have generated the most carbon pollution are in possession of the greatest power to address climate disruption.

Climate change is responsible for the rise in dangerous heat waves, steady sea level rise, torrential floods, and biodiversity loss. Neighborhoods outside the dominant power structures have lived in the US beside toxic waste dumps. Entire generations have breathed in polluted air, swallowed tainted water, and suffered severe health impacts. As has been made evident over the decades, fossil fuel companies have known about the pollution their processes and products cause, but they have resisted taking action. It’s all about foregrounding profits over quality human life.

Raising awareness about our warming world is a start, and, yet, further empowerment is needed to actively engage individuals emotionally, intellectually, and practically across diverse demographics. Black climate activists are demanding political and corporate action on climate change using tactics such as protests, marches, and boycotts, following in the footsteps of historical social movements that have successfully earned major wins for causes, such as civil rights.

That’s where The Solutions Project and the NAACP are making inroads as they seek to further equip Black communities with the agency to navigate and address the complexities of climate change. Research shows that funding local, frontline climate groups allows for increased impact because they design solutions that simultaneously benefit local people and the planet.

“Climate justice is civil rights work, and Black communities have long been at the forefront of fighting environmental harm while advancing solutions that protect our health and our futures,” says Abre’ Conner, director of Environmental and Climate Justice at NAACP.

As part of Black Climate Week, The Solutions Project and NAACP are asking cities and elected officials to pledge to support Black-led climate solutions, as well as asking organizations and creators to amplify their local communities’ climate innovation success stories. Last year, more than 130 organizations and cities such as Newark, NJ and Baltimore, MD amplified the campaign on social media and held their own citywide events.

Black-led organizations are securing major policy victories and developing clean energy projects with the potential to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Strategies like agroforestry, zero-emission buildings, expanding renewable energy sources, and plant-based diets are first steps toward a net zero future for humanity. Through their social media channels and in-person events, The Solutions Project and NAACP are lifting up dozens of Black-led climate success stories, such as:

• In Alabama, Greater Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP) is trying to secure a moratorium on a proposed data center in Birmingham, citing concerns about the massive amount of dirty energy and water it would require to operate. GASP also works to advance healthy air and environmental justice in the greater-Birmingham region through education, advocacy, and collaboration.
• RISE St. James is leading the fight against petrochemical industries in Louisiana and won a legal battle to overturn approval of a Koch Methanol pipeline that would have gone through valuable wetlands.
• In Tennessee, Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP), Young, Gifted, and Green and the NAACP Memphis branch are fighting against Elon Musk’s AI data center that is causing a surge in local pollution. Solutions Project’s grantees are leading this fight against the social and environmental threats posed by AI data centers.
• Urban Tilth inspires, hires, and trains local residents to cultivate agriculture, feed their community, and restore relationships to land to build a more sustainable food system, within a just and healthier community.
• The NAACP has released “2026 Recommendations for Protecting Frontline Communities to Stop Dirty Data.” It’s a playbook outlining critical recommendations to ensure AI data centers are developed responsibly, equitably, and without causing environmental harm to Black, Brown, and low-income communities as well as community benefit agreement resources for data center buildouts.
• In support of bills that outline a “polluter pays” framework and allocate the financial responsibility for climate-related costs to the oil and gas industry, the NAACP is fighting for renewable energy and bring power back to the community members.
• The Young Black Climate Leaders Dream Lab funds youth ages 18-25 to meet, build, and immerse in arts, community organizing, transformative change, environmental justice, ecological principles, leadership development, and Sankofa (an Akan tradition of honoring the past in order to move forward). Applications for the next YBCL Youth Futures funding closes March 9, 2026.

Black communities and innovators are stepping up to reverse planetary warming. The Black Climate Week campaign runs from Saturday, February 21 through Saturday, February 28, 2026.

The Solutions Project is a nonprofit philanthropic organization that funds and amplifies the stories of grassroots climate organizations across the country, most of which are led by women and people of color. The Solutions Project has provided tens of millions of dollars in grants and communications support to more than 130 organizations in 39 states and the territory of Puerto Rico.

The NAACP advocates, agitates, and litigates for the civil rights due to Black America. Their work to secure social and political power that will end race-based discrimination is rooted in racial equity, civic engagement, and supportive policies and institutions for all marginalized people. They are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities.

Resources

• “Advocate to make polluters pay.” NAACP.
• “NAACP releases playbook for frontline communities to stop dirty data centers.” Chyna Fields. NAACP.
• “Transformative climate and environmental education for a just future.” Asli Sezen-Barrie, Mark Windschitl, and Fikile Nxumalo. Science Education. March 2025.
• “Urban Tilth: About us.“
• “YBCL 2026 Youth Futures Fund application.”