Weekly Briefing: Our Conference Was A Great Success!

December 7, 2022

CCL conference successfully paves way for new year 

This past weekend, CCL held our online December conference to successfully roll out our new and expanded policy agenda. Over 1,500 attendees heard from members of Congress, researchers, CCL staff, and renewable energy experts from across the nation about some of CCL’s upcoming policies and how to make them a reality in 2023. 

“Our values and purpose and ways of working together remain the same. It’s our strategy that evolves to fit the times we’re in and the organization that we’ve become,” said CCL Executive Director Madeleine Para in her opening speech. 

In this conference, CCL staff and industry experts discussed CCL’s new strategies for 2023, which include:

• Continuing support for a carbon fee and dividend and a carbon border adjustment mechanism
• Growing healthy forests and trees across the U.S. and combating international deforestation
• Building electrification and efficiency in buildings across the U.S.
• Working through the permitting reform process to accelerate the approval of clean energy projects and add to America’s capacity to transmit clean energy

With these policy priorities, CCL aims to reduce and mitigate emissions, work with both parties in new ways and push them towards greater action. These policies will increase our effectiveness and work in tandem with the priorities of Congress. Together, they will help lower U.S. carbon emissions to net zero.

If you couldn’t attend, don’t fret! Keep an eye on the CCL blog for conference speech transcripts and seminar recaps. For now, check out the YouTube playlist below for the conference speeches, seminars, and presentations below.

Check out conference recordings and presentations

In other news this week: 

• The best lobbyists money can’t buy: At Citizens’ Climate, we believe everyday people make the best lobbyists money can’t buy — with the power to push our government to take meaningful action on climate change. And, it works: in August, the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history was made law thanks, in large part, to the broad support for climate solutions we built together. Still, in order to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change, we need to do even more. We aim to raise $1.5 million by December 31st to help us reach, train, and mobilize even more dedicated citizen lobbyists—at a time when Congress has shown more interest in climate solutions than ever before. Can we count on you to pitch in? Make a tax-deductible donation to Citizens’ Climate Education today. 
• CCLers on the Hill (virtually): For the December lobby session, CCL volunteers have already scheduled 259 meetings, and there are 433 confirmed appointment setters. Excellent work, CCLers! If you haven’t already, work with your chapter to set up a lobby meeting. You can find some helpful resources here.
• Grasstops Engagement Action Team: On Dec. 14, the Grasstops Engagement Action Team will feature a guest speaker, CERES Senior Associate Levi Kamolnick, to talk about the importance of grasstops leaders in legislative work and how they can best extend their support for strong climate policy. You can find more information about this event here.
• Nerd Corner: The brainiacs at CCL’s Nerd Corner have been doing plenty of research. You can read more about the power of carbon pricing being reaffirmed in a major new study here, and you can read about Austria’s climate bonus here.
• Volunteer Spotlight — Gigi Santo:  “Gigi” Santo is a high school senior and Group Co-Leader in Broward County, Florida. She also spoke about leadership at CCL’s December conference. Read her story here.
• With Gratitude #3: In this gratitude installment, you’ll read about volunteers who tabled for Earth Day, petitioned AARP, and plenty more examples of creating the political will for a liveable world.

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Take action this week  

If you have a little time: Urge your member of Congress to support the RISEE Act
Thanks to all of the hard work of CCL volunteers supporting the RISEE Act, we've added 14 cosponsors to the House bill and two Republican senators to the Senate bill within the last week alone. Excellent work! If you haven’t contacted your member of Congress yet, you can do that here.

If you have more time: Join the December national call 
Join us this Saturday, Dec. 10, 10 a.m. PT/ 1 p.m. ET, for our December national call! This month’s guest speaker is Marcelo Mena, CEO of Global Methane Hub, which supports methane emissions reduction efforts around the world. In this month’s call, he will offer his perspective on the recent COP27 climate summit. You can find more information about that call here. 

Find your CCL chapter | Check out our Action Teams | Browse upcoming events
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Featured Lever This Week 

Pullman CCL finds residents concerned about climate

The Pullman chapter of CCL has been busy collecting data over the last few months about concern in their community about climate change. 

The chapter received more than 300 responses to a survey about the impacts of climate change in their community.

CCLer Kynan Witters Hicks said that the Pullman chapter created the survey to better understand public knowledge surrounding the climate, gauge concern for potential climate impacts, and to better understand citizen willingness to support political action. The survey was completed in the fall of 2021 and included around 415 respondents.

The chapter also collected data on possible clean energy solutions from citizens before submitting the results to the Pullman City Council. 

You can read the full story in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News below.

Read the article here.

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Upcoming Trainings 

• 12/8: Help Your Chapter Take Action With CCL's Policy Agenda — You learned about CCL’s policy agenda at our December conference, and now it’s time to select the policies that you will advocate and decide how you will take action. Join CCL's National Action Director Todd Elvins for a training to take action with your chapter using CCL's Take Action worksheet as a guide to plan your next steps. Join us!   
• 12/15: Getting Started With Local Partnership Ideas — As CCL expands our policy agenda, it opens up the possibilities for chapters to work with local and state-level climate groups and policymakers. Join CCL staff for a discussion around how to get started with local partnership ideas. Join us!

Need training on the basics? Catch our next session of Core Volunteer Training, made for newer volunteers:

• 12/13: Chapter Development Basics — CCL chapters form the backbone of our organization. People from all walks of life who understand the urgency of climate change have started local CCL chapters across the world. This training will highlight recommendations and resources to help get a new CCL chapter up and running as well as the chance to hear from CCL group leaders about their experiences organizing their groups. Join us!    

To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.