I spent the last year talking climate policy with the GOP and businesses. Here’s what I’ve learned.

After a four-year period that put climate change and clean energy policy near the top of the federal policy agenda – culminating with the clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 – it’s very clear that the incoming Congress and Presidential administration will deprioritize climate as an issue.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t room to make progress, however.

Sustainability policy advocacy in a Republican-led Washington is still possible, but it must take on a different shape. Take it from me. As senior director of federal policy at Ceres, I have organized dozens of meetings between companies and Republican members of Congress over the last year – including a series of post-election meetings in early December featuring more than two dozen leading businesses and 40 GOP Congressional offices.

I’ve been heartened to find plenty of room for common ground. There are real signs there’s a chance to preserve some of the policy foundations driving clean energy investment across the U.S. And I still believe there are opportunities for additional solutions that appeal to both parties, in the areas such as trade, permitting, industrial and agricultural policy, where solutions that benefit American economic competitiveness can also bring real advances for climate and sustainability.

But with climate and sustainability moving to the backburner, it’s important to understand how progress on these issues can fit within the priorities of policymakers. Based on my experience, here’s what it will take to be an effective corporate advocate as Washington transitions power in 2025.

Understand what resonates

Climate change is not a total third rail with GOP members of Congress, but simply put, it’s not a top priority. What is? Jobs, manufacturing, energy affordability, national security, rural investment and global competitiveness. The good news is that those priorities can naturally complement strong sustainability policies. For example, we’ve already seen more than a dozen Republicans in Congress declare their opposition to repealing federal clean energy tax credits – precisely because they understand that businesses need certainty to plan major investments, such as bringing jobs into their districts.

The key to policy wins like that is to identify the priorities of specific policymakers and see how sustainability helps to achieve them. Lawmakers who are interested in farming or represent rural areas, for example, may be open to hearing about programs that invest in sustainable agriculture or protect farms and food supply chains from drought. And at a time when global trade is a growing Republican concern, we’re already seeing some GOP support for the idea of a fee on imports based on how much pollution it took to manufacture them – a strategy that could harness the power of the U.S. economy to drive down global emissions. I would argue there are more opportunities for common ground than you might first think, but you need to find that ground to move forward.

Tell your story

While this is policy engagement 101, it’s better to talk in specifics rather than the abstract. Explain why clean energy, electric vehicles or other important sustainability measures are important to your company. Maybe it’s what investors or consumers are asking for. Maybe it helps reduce and stabilize energy costs, so you have more money to invest in innovation and job creation. Maybe it’s a chance to cut down on pollution that hurts your workers. Maybe you have facilities in a rural location, and you need reliable backup power in the form of solar panels and battery storage to make sure you can operate during bad weather and power outages. And don’t just explain why those measures are important to your business; explain how they can benefit the people, communities and local economies that a given policymaker represents.

This is politics, but it doesn’t need to be political. By telling your company’s story, you take the discussion out of the realm of ideological debate and into a place of relationship building. It’s a relationship based on common goals of improving the livelihoods of the communities you operate in and they represent.

Take the chance to educate

Many policymakers who don’t prioritize sustainability issues may not know a lot about them. That’s fine and normal – we are all much more likely to learn more about the issues that we’re already familiar with. But it offers those of us who know these issues intimately an opportunity to explain and inform. For example, I have seen members of Congress who don’t believe businesses have a good financial reason to transition to electric vehicle fleets, because they assume the purchasing costs are just too high. Once they were told that reduced fuel and maintenance costs actually make it a great investment that saves money over the long-term, however, they quickly understood.

When it comes to the needs and priorities of your business, you’re the expert. Although you should be thoughtful about how to frame your message to reflect the interests of a given policymaker, you should seize the opportunity to help them better understand. That can be invaluable – and is a good enough reason to have these discussions in the first place.