Benji Backer is an environmentalist activist who associates with the Republican Party politically. He is the founder and president of American Conservation Coalition (ACC), a nominally right-leaning environmentalist organization with financial ties to left-wing environmentalist groups.

American Conservation Coalition

In 2017, Backer and other conservative students at the University of Washington started the American Conservation Coalition to advocate for market-based approaches to environmental regulation. The organization works on 220 college campuses across the country. ^{[1] [2]} Backer has said that the ACC was founded to give “conservatives a voice” on environmental issues. ^[3] Critics from the right have pointed out that ACC has taken funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking organization. ^[4]

Backer and the ACC support pro-business policies and Backer has said that public-private partnerships are the most effective means of addressing climate change and promoting renewable energies. ^[5] He has promoted the ACC’s America Climate Contract, which is a conservative alternative to the Green New Deal, which he considers to be unrealistic. ^[6]

Backer testified in September 2019 to a joint hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment and the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. ^[7] Left-wing climate activists like Greta Thunberg also testified at the hearing. ^[8]

In September 2020, during the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Backer said, “If President Trump wants to get my vote, he’s going to have to prioritize climate change in a way that he has not done over the past four years.” ^[9] In January 2021, Backer said he looked forward to working with the Biden administration so conservatives and Republicans would have a seat at the table on climate change issues. ^[10]

In March 2021, Backer co-wrote an op-ed in the Washington Examiner with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR). They wrote that the supposed trade-off between a clean environment and healthy economy was a false choice and noted the Republican Party’s long history on environmental issues, including establishing the Environmental Protection Agency and President Teddy Roosevelt’s conservation legacy. ^[11]

Political Activities

Backer volunteered for Republican political campaigns in Wisconsin before he was old enough to vote. ^[12] He first became involved in politics by campaigning for 2008 Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at the age of 10. ^[13]

Backer was the co-chairman of Young Americans for Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential election^[14] and made more than 22,000 phone calls as a Republican volunteer. ^[15]

Backer has been a commentator for several national media outlets, including CNBC, Fox News, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Townhall, and The Independent. He was a speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2014 and 2016. ^{[16] [17]}

Backer was on the Forbes magazine “30 Under 30” list in 2019, as well as the 30-under-30 lists of GreenBiz and Red Alert. ^[18] ABC News named him one of the “5 youth climate activists you need to know.” ^[19]

Backer sits on the board of the Mainstream Republicans of Washington and is a member of the Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum’s Leadership Council. ^{[20] [21]} He is a 2020 graduate of the University of Washington and grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin. ^{[22] [23]}