Climate Action Campaign

Climate Action Campaign has a simple mission: stop climate change.

Climate change demands a revolution to democratize all forms of power—fossil fuels, solar, wind and most importantly, economic and political power. To stop climate change, we need experienced advocates and trained community members at the local, state, and national levels promoting relevant, achievable, and legally binding climate policies.

Climate Action Campaign is unique in the San Diego and southern California region in that it is solely focused on stopping the climate crisis through policy action. 100% of our time, energy, and finances are dedicated toward achieving this essential mission.

Our Approach

We are a small organization with big goals and the ingenuity, creativity, and courage to build change from the ground up, shift our culture, fight powerful institutions, and stop the climate crisis. We believe change happens when communities come together to pursue big ideas.

We are shifting Southern California’s reputation from a good place for a taco and a tan to a model of bold commitment to change where environmentalists, cleantech entrepreneurs, social justice advocates, and government officials turn for leadership and inspiration.

Our work has already resulted in the unanimous, bipartisan passage of the City of San Diego’s groundbreaking 2015 Climate Action Plan, which made San Diego the largest city in the United States with a legal commitment to reach 100% clean energy by 2035.  

We have also successfully won six other 100% renewable energy commitments by 2035, all by breaking up our energy monopolies and restoring energy democracy and community control through Community Choice. We are currently working with sixteen other city, county, and regional government agencies located throughout San Diego County and Orange County to help them implement similar 100% clean energy climate plans and other leading climate policies. We issue an annual regional Climate Action Plan Report Card to assess how cities are doing in developing -- and implementing -- their plans.

Our locally based actions toward stopping climate change yield measurable improvements in our communities and create the momentum necessary to pass similarly effective and enforceable policies at the state and national levels. The state of California last year passed a law to reach 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045 -- and San Diego was cited as an impetus for this landmark legislation.

Our Policy Goals

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and California law tell us we must slash carbon emissions to zero to stop the worst impacts of climate change. Our five main policy focus areas—our five fights—address the main local drivers of and solutions to climate change—shifting how we power our lives and move around our cities while improving individual and community quality of life, creating good-paying green jobs, and promoting social equity for our most impacted communities.

Our Five Fights are:

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Climate Action Campaign’s aim is to make climate action the number one goal of local policymakers while also providing them with the tools and expertise they need to enact these meaningful and enforceable climate-focused policies.

Our Strategy for Success

Climate Action Campaign employs five key strategies designed to meet our policy goals and satisfy our mission:

• Advocate for effective policy to protect our quality of life.
• Educate & train the public, our members, grassroots organizations, frontline and refugee communities, and policymakers through trainings, presentations, and forums.
• Mobilize the community dedicated to achieving our policy goals, amplify the voices of the silenced, and empower disengaged communities to meaningfully participate in issues that affect their lives.
• Organize and Build Coalitions across a spectrum of interests, organizations, businesses, and beliefs to advocate for shared policy goals.
• Provide technical assistance for local communities, governments, and decision-makers in developing, adopting, promoting, and implementing leading and innovative climate policies.

Our experience and expertise in climate change, policy advocacy, and community organizing uniquely position Climate Action Campaign as the most-capable organization for effecting enforceable climate action in the San Diego and Orange County regions.

Replicating Success

As we go forward, we are building on our early successes at the local level to achieve 100% clean energy throughout San Diego County and beyond. We want every city in California to adopt the same 100% clean energy targets so that California continues to be a world leader demonstrating what is possible for our future. We will continue to be a resource for advocates, decision makers, and legislators who want to enact similar climate protection policies, and we will showcase our victories as a model for successful climate action in other cities and regions.

Our aim is to make climate action a number one priority for policymakers everywhere until we achieve our mission: to stop climate change.