A Letter from the Executive Director

In 2025, NC Conservation Network faced a season of change and turbulence at both the state and federal levels, but we remain committed to fighting for North Carolina’s environment and public health.

From the constant onslaught of rollbacks at the federal level to ongoing challenges at the state level, our work this past year was full of finding creative avenues for progress. We uplifted new policy to proactively respond to worsening storms across North Carolina, built bi-partisan support in the NC Legislature to address the growing problem of forever chemicals in our water, and fought hard against Duke Energy’s efforts to charge ratepayers for work on new energy sources before they are operational.

While some of these fights are long from over, NC Conservation Network will continue our work to make progress by building North Carolina into a more resilient state, advocating for stronger protections from forever chemical pollution in our communities, combating Trump Administration rollbacks to environmental and public health protections, and advocating for carbon reductions and increased clean energy in North Carolina.

This work has never been more critical, and it will take all of us to make the future a place where everyone can thrive.

Thank you again for your continued support of NC Conservation Network. Important work lies ahead, and we’re grateful to have you fighting alongside us for North Carolina’s environment and future.

Brian Buzby
Executive Director

Fighting Rollbacks

While faced with significant challenges in 2025, NCCN still fought against many proposed rollbacks to rules that protect our environment both federally and locally in North Carolina.

Finding Common Ground

Through bipartisan collaboration at both the state and federal levels, NCCN was able to support key advancements to protect our communities and environments. Federally, by working with our activist base and partners, we were able to successfully advocate for the EPA to ban most uses of the toxic, cancer-causing chemical trichloroethylene (TCE). This is a huge win and crucial step in protecting the health and safety of our communities.

NCCN also was successful in advocating for steps to build a more resilient state that will better withstand future natural disasters. Most notably in these efforts was the successful passage of NC House Bill 1012, which provided millions of dollars to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts including, debris removal, taking steps to mitigate future flood risk, and repairing roads, dams, and drinking water and wastewater systems.

Planting Seeds

We continued to build for a brighter future through our Campus Fellows and Environmental Justice Leadership Academy (EJLA) programs.

State of the Environment

In 2025, NCCN published the second edition of the State of the Environment report, which assesses trends in North Carolina’s human and natural environments. The report is organized around 46 goal statements and uses 114 indicators from public sources to evaluate progress towards or away from these goals. The report serves as a reference for current and evolving research, and a source for hope and solutions.

Report trends are mixed and complex. While some positive progress was noted regarding annual greenhouse gas emissions, rising temperatures, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, and sea levels exemplify how past and current policy decision affect outcomes. North Carolina has made much progress over the past several decades in reducing exposures to conventional pollutants, but more work must be done to reduce exposure to unregulated and emerging contaminants. Both summary and full versions of the report are available.

2025 BOD

Revenue

Contributions & Grants

$4,189,383

Other

$558,142

TOTAL

$4,747,525

Expenses

Program

$2,455,460

Mgmt & General

$408,112

Fundraising

$125,502

TOTAL

$2,989,074

Net Assets

Beginning of Year

$10,646,507

End of Year

$12,412,831

Learn More

Read more about our current Team, Board of Directors, and Affiliates through the pages below.