In a year of federal rollbacks on climate, local leadership rose.
Our 2025 recap, with a peek ahead to 2026
As 2025 comes to a close, coastal communities across the country continue to reel from federal rollbacks on climate initiatives. Yet in the face of this retreat, states and local governments are demonstrating powerful leadership. Local climate action remains strong, and essential.
This year, UOL worked to highlight success stories from coastal regions around the country while building the organizational capacity needed for the years ahead.
Highlights, chronologically, for 2025 include:
An op-ed, What Now for Climate Under Trump? Act Locally, by Ayana in Rolling Stone.
A policy memo in partnership with Stone Living Lab, Nature-Based Solutions in Boston’s Harbor. Drawing on discussions with community organizations, nonprofits, and private developers, the memo provides recommendations to help coastal cities scale the use of nature-based solutions in urban harbor and waterfront projects.
Upwell: A Wave of Ocean Justice, a convening held in Washington, DC for the third year, which we co-host in collaboration with several non-profit partners. With 200+ in-person attendees and 375+ online viewers, the symposium featured 22 speakers across expert panels, intergenerational interviews, an artist in residence, and networking session for youth advocates – elevating powerful conversations on centering equity and justice in ocean-climate policy.
A policy memo, Staying the Course: Local Climate Justice in an Era of Federal Rollbacks, developed through interviews with city leaders in coastal cities throughout the country, demonstrating how coastal cities are stepping up: directing resources to frontline neighborhoods, elevating community leadership, and building systems that address both environmental and social vulnerability.
A second op-ed in Rolling Stone, to accompany the above memo by UOL fellow Calla Rosenfeld, As Trump Guts Climate Justice Work, Coastal Cities Are Pushing Back.
A policy memo, State-Led Coastal Resilience: Lessons from California, drawing on insights from interviews with city, county, and state officials, the memo identifies strategies states can adopt to advance a comprehensive approach to coastal resilience.
Strategic Planning + Partnerships
We also welcomed Daphne Lundi as our new Managing Director, who has been leading us through strategic planning as we hone in on how UOL can be most impactful in this socio-political moment. In the year ahead, UOL plans to deepen its policy influence by strengthening our research base, and continuing to grow our digital tools (through our Resource Hub) to support more coastal changemakers. As we expand this work, we expect to engage senior fellows with deep expertise in a range of issues important to coastal cities right now.
We also know that cities cannot meet the challenge of climate change on their own. As federal support erodes, UOL is working to reimagine the future federal role in coastal resilience. We will convene coalitions of experts, former federal staff, and advocates to identify structural reforms, and chart a forward-looking federal roadmap.
We are also deepening our partnerships. We are grateful to the city and state leaders who have partnered with us over the past year to advance policy insights for coastal cities, and to our incredible Advisory Board, whose guidance and thought leadership have been essential to this work. If you’re working in a coastal city (including the Great Lakes), developing federal policy ideas for coastal resilience, or working within a nonprofit, community-based organization, or local government to navigate coastal climate challenges, we would love to connect.
Our work is only possible because of the support of our community. If you would like to help sustain our research and policy development, please consider making a donation.
Thank you for being in this work with us,
Ayana and Jean
Co-founders of Urban Ocean Lab