Vermont Conservation Voters (VCV) advocates for legislation that will ensure Vermont offers a bright future for our children and grandchildren. Our vision for a bright future for Vermont includes working to advance and defend policies that protect the environment and promote health, while advancing civil rights, social, economic, and racial justice, and strengthening our democracy.

Each year, VCV publishes the Vermont Environmental Common Agenda of legislative priorities. This Agenda represents the priorities of a range of organizations across Vermont working on matters affecting our shared natural resources, the character of our communities, and the health of Vermonters.

Over the past year, Vermonters experienced firsthand the growing threats to our communities posed by the climate crisis, including devastating flooding and polluted air due to wildfires. The urgency for climate action continues to build. The policy priorities outlined in this year’s Environmental Common Agenda are pivotal solutions needed to address these complex challenges. 

This year’s agenda focuses on advancing clean energy for all, and building climate resilience by improving protections for our watersheds, including rivers, streams, and wetlands, and by addressing dam safety. We identify strategies to pay for climate mitigation and resilience by holding fossil fuel companies accountable, and by establishing funding structures to better leverage state and federal funds. We also promote smart growth housing solutions that help alleviate the housing shortage while better protecting our intact forest blocks and other critical resources. Finally, we identify steps the Legislature must take to reduce Vermonters’ exposure to toxic chemicals, implement the state’s Environmental Justice Law, finish the work of updating the Bottle Bill, and ensure a healthy democracy for all.