STATEWIDE ADVOCACY PRIORITIES
We’re organizing our Minnesota communities to move away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible and to do so equitably, protecting communities and ecosystems and repairing the harm we’ve created locally and globally from our reliance on fossil fuels
Our Advocacy Philosophy
Our Minnesota communities – and our global communities – are facing three interrelated crises:
- A climate crisis and a warming world
- A pollution crisis that is hurting our land, water, air, and the people who live here
- Biodiversity loss and ecosystem destruction
All three of these crises are products of systems of greed and extraction that undermine our connections to each other and to the earth and that undermine our democracy
These crises are people-made and they are going to require people-made solutions.
We must move away from fossil fuels NOW and we must do so as quickly as possible.
And, we must do so equitably with a focus on those most impacted by these crises (who are often least responsible), protecting our ecosystems, our fellow living creatures and people, and repairing the harm we’ve created locally and globally.
MNIPL is committed to advancing advocacy priorities that offer real solutions to these concurrent crises while challenging dead end solutions that do not end our dependence on carbon, pollution, and ecosystem destruction.
Our Advocacy Approach
We know that advocacy for the issues we care about isn't defined by one legislative session or one bill. Building towards a greener and more interdependent world will take intentional and long-term work in multiple different ways. At MNIPL, we have three complimentary approaches to our advocacy:
Legislative Advocacy
MNIPL works with advocates and legislators to advance specific bills and policies at the legislature. This includes helping connect constituents with their legislators and helping advance legislation.
In 2023, for example, MNIPL was instrumental in passing the Minnesota Climate Innovation Financing Act (MNCIFA) which is investing more that $40M in building energy efficient infrastructure in chronically underfunded communities.
Administrative Advocacy
MNIPL also works to make sure that policies are actually enacted in ways that respect tribal and Indigenous sovereignty and that prioritize the needs and health of everyday Minnesotans over corporations.
Decisions made by entities like the Public Utilities Commission and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have real impacts on people's lives. We help make sure that the voices of Minnesotans are heard in those spaces.
Education & Organizing
We know that our advocacy is only effective when we are listening to the needs of our communities and bringing people from across the state into this important work.
MNIPL is also committed to organizing with folks most affected by climate change. We also bring support and education to groups and people who want to get involved and make change in their local, state, or global communities.
MNIPL's Advocacy Approach
We know that advocacy for the issues we care about isn't defined by one legislative session or one bill. Building towards a greener and more interdependent world will take intentional and long-term work in multiple different ways. At MNIPL, we have three complimentary approaches to our advocacy:
Legislative Advocacy
MNIPL works with advocates and legislators to advance specific bills and policies at the legislature. This includes helping connect constituents with their legislators and helping advance legislation.
In 2023, for example, MNIPL was instrumental in passing the Minnesota Climate Innovation Financing Act (MNCIFA) which is investing more that $40M in building energy efficient infrastructure in chronically underfunded communities.
Administrative Advocacy
MNIPL also works to make sure that policies are actually enacted in ways that respect tribal and Indigenous sovereignty and that prioritize the needs and health of everyday Minnesotans over corporations.
Decisions made by entities like the Public Utilities Commission and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have real impacts on people's lives. We help makes sure that the voices of Minnesotans are heard in those spaces.
Education & Organizing
We know that our advocacy is only effective when we are listening to the needs of our communities and bringing people from across the state into this important work.
MNIPL is also committed to organizing with folks most affected by climate change and bringing support and education to groups who want to get involved and government officials who want to support.
2026 STATEWIDE ADVOCACY PRIORITIES
Interested in the status of the bills MNIPL is following? Check out our MNIPL Bill Tracker!
More than two dozen hyperscale data center projects have been proposed across Minnesota. These massive warehouses being sought by trillion-dollar companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have deleterious effects on our communities and consume massive amounts of electicity.
Minnesota needs to put a pause on hyperscale data center development so we can:
- Protect our water, land, and the areas around the data centers
- Ensure communities have access to important information about development projects
- Prevent climate-change driving emissions and other pollution by requiring that data centers are powered by 100% new solar and wind from the start
- Ensure that Minnesota communities aren’t hit by the massive energy rate hikes we’ve seen in other states
MNIPL is partnering with the Rise & Repair coalition to enact a two-year moratorium on the approval and construction of hyperscale data centers to understand whether data centers should be part of Minnesota’s future. At the very least, we need regulation that will include:
- A ban on non-disclosure agreements
- A repeal of tax breaks for the richest companies in the world
- A commitment to 100% new clean energy from the start
- A requirement for environmental review and individual water permits
Click here to learn more about our work on hypescale data centers at to take action!
As insurance companies are raising rates for Minnesotans and citing increased wind and storms as the cause, they are continuing to invest in projects and companies that are exacerbating wind and storms by fueling climate change.
MNIPL is working to pass legislation legislation that will hold insurance companies accountable for providing affordable coverage for Minnesotans.
MNIPL is also fighting inequities built into our insurance system: insurers are currently using credit scores to assign higher rates to their lower income policyholders. Why? Because people with lower incomes often do not purchase the range of policies (like life insurance) that prove to be more profitable for the insurance companies.
But credit scores do not mean anything about the risk associated with a particular home. Saddling those least able to pay with higher premiums to subsidize those more able to pay is an inequity that must be rectified, NOW. These are other policies MNIPL is working on to hold insurance companies accountable for providing affordable coverage for Minnesotans.
As we are approaching lawmakers and administrators about this issue, many of them are asking for stories of Minnesotans who have faced ballooning premiums or a lack of coverage. Do you have a story we can share? Click here to submit your story and help us show the impact of these decisions!
We are at a pivotal moment in the future of our energy production. We are seeing:
- Declining costs for solar panels and technology
- Innovations in battery storage and affordability
- Increased electrification of homes and appliances
In 2026, renewable energy from solar and wind with battery storage has now become the cheapest, most reliable, and most equitable way to create electricity. It is also the most democratic – the sun is accessible to almost everyone and the technology to generate electricity from it has never been more affordable.
And yet, for-profit utility companies are arguing that only they have the scale and capacity to meet the energy needs of our communities and are eager to monopolize the power of the sun to increase profits for their shareholders.
Now is the moment: we need to act now to ensure community ownership of our solar future focused on building the wealth and capacity of our communities – not shareholder profits. We need community solar at a scale that will meet our current and future needs.
Through our work with community organizations, MNIPL has helped to bring 3.5M of solar electricity to communities of faith, conscience and spiritual practice and non-profit organizations across the state. But we need our elected officials in order to bring the scale we need to replicate that success across the state.
MNIPL is working to advance legislation to help support and protect community scale solar so that people across the state have ownership in our renewable energy future.
Wild Rice, known as manoomin to the Anishinaabeg and psíŋ to the Lakota and Dakota, is crucial to the health of people and ecosystems in Minnesota. Importantly, manoomin/psíŋ is central to Anishinaabe and Dakota spirituality, culture, and nutrition, as well as their economies. Wild rice is also the state grain of Minnesota and an essential part of our understanding of this place we call home. Manoomin/psíŋ is under threat from invasive species, climate change, and pollution.
MNIPL supports the work of the Rise & Repair Alliance, which is leading legislative actions to strengthen protections for Manoomin/Psiŋ as a food source, a living being, and a crucial part of Minnesota’s ecosystem
Click here to learn more about this effort with Rise & Repair!
HYPESCALE DATA CENTER MORATORIUM
More than two dozen hyperscale data center projects have been proposed across Minnesota. These massive warehouses being sought by trillion-dollar companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have deleterious effects on our communities and consume massive amounts of electicity.
Minnesota needs to put a pause on hyperscale data center development so we can:
- Protect our water, land, and the areas around the data centers
- Ensure communities have access to important information about development projects
- Prevent climate-change driving emissions and other pollution by requiring that data centers are powered by 100% new solar and wind from the start
- Ensure that Minnesota communities aren’t hit by the massive energy rate hikes we’ve seen in other states
MNIPL is partnering with the Rise & Repair coalition to enact a two-year moratorium on the approval and construction of hyperscale data centers to understand whether data centers should be part of Minnesota’s future. At the very least, we need regulation that will include:
- A ban on non-disclosure agreements
- A repeal of tax breaks for the richest companies in the world
- A commitment to 100% new clean energy from the start
- A requirement for environmental review and individual water permits
Click here to learn more about our work on hypescale data centers at to take action!
CLIMATE-SMART INSURANCE
As insurance companies are raising rates for Minnesotans and citing increased wind and storms as the cause, they are continuing to invest in projects and companies that are exacerbating wind and storms by fueling climate change.
MNIPL is working to pass legislation legislation that will hold insurance companies accountable for providing affordable coverage for Minnesotans.
MNIPL is also fighting inequities built into our insurance system: insurers are currently using credit scores to assign higher rates to their lower income policyholders. Why? Because people with lower incomes often do not purchase the range of policies (like life insurance) that prove to be more profitable for the insurance companies.
But credit scores do not mean anything about the risk associated with a particular home. Saddling those least able to pay with higher premiums to subsidize those more able to pay is an inequity that must be rectified, NOW. These are other policies MNIPL is working on to hold insurance companies accountable for providing affordable coverage for Minnesotans.
As we are approaching lawmakers and administrators about this issue, many of them are asking for stories of Minnesotans who have faced ballooning premiums or a lack of coverage. Do you have a story we can share? Click here to submit your story and help us show the impact of these decisions!
COMMUNITY SCALE SOLAR
We are at a pivotal moment in the future of our energy production. We are seeing:
- Declining costs for solar panels and technology
- Innovations in battery storage and affordability
- Increased electrification of homes and appliances
In 2026, renewable energy from solar and wind with battery storage has now become the cheapest, most reliable, and most equitable way to create electricity. It is also the most democratic – the sun is accessible to almost everyone and the technology to generate electricity from it has never been more affordable.
And yet, for-profit utility companies are arguing that only they have the scale and capacity to meet the energy needs of our communities and are eager to monopolize the power of the sun to increase profits for their shareholders.
Now is the moment: we need to act now to ensure community ownership of our solar future focused on building the wealth and capacity of our communities – not shareholder profits. We need community solar at a scale that will meet our current and future needs.
Through our work with community organizations, MNIPL has helped to bring 3.5M of solar electricity to communities of faith, conscience and spiritual practice and non-profit organizations across the state. But we need our elected officials in order to bring the scale we need to replicate that success across the state.
MNIPL is working to advance legislation to help support and protect community scale solar so that people across the state have ownership in our renewable energy future.
PROTECTING MANOOMIN/PSÍŊ (WILD RICE)
Wild Rice, known as manoomin to the Anishinaabeg and psíŋ to the Lakota and Dakota, is crucial to the health of people and ecosystems in Minnesota. Importantly, manoomin/psíŋ is central to Anishinaabe and Dakota spirituality, culture, and nutrition, as well as their economies. Wild rice is also the state grain of Minnesota and an essential part of our understanding of this place we call home. Manoomin/psíŋ is under threat from invasive species, climate change, and pollution.
MNIPL supports the work of the Rise & Repair Alliance, which is leading legislative actions to strengthen protections for Manoomin/Psiŋ as a food source, a living being, and a crucial part of Minnesota’s ecosystem
Click here to learn more about this effort with Rise & Repair!
MNIPL is proud to be a part of Rise & Repair, a diverse alliance of people and organizations advancing Indigenous rights & climate justice during Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session.
Check out this video to see some of what Rise & Repair is working on this session!
Rise & Repair Partners:
Cooperative Energy Futures, EcoFaith Network, Institute for Self-Reliance, Land Stewardship Project, Mi C.A.S.A., Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, Mountains and Waters Alliance, R.I.S.E. Coalition, Sierra Club, Vote Solar, Take Action MN, MCEA, Climate Generation, The Repair Communities for Makoce Ikikcupi, Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, MUUSJA, CURE, Water Legacy, Episcopal Church of MN, MN 350 Action, and Recycling Electronics for Climate Action (RECA)