Helping lead the fight to mobilize governments and society to restore a safe climate.
In just 3 years, more than 125 cities, counties, and other jurisdictions in the United States have passed a formal declaration of Climate Emergency — a critical first step in acknowledging the emergency situation that climate disruption poses to communities and ecosystems across the planet. Climate Emergency organizing has helped advance ambitious local climate action across the U.S. beyond the goals of the Paris Agreement — 30 localities that have declared a Climate Emergency have also committed to reaching zero emissions by 2030.
The Climate Mobilization chapter in Hoboken, New Jersey was first to declare a climate emergency in 2017, and has been critical to the campaigns that have stopped two fracked gas power plants from being built in Northern New Jersey. In Kearney, NJ Transit is now exploring a 100% renewables microgrid after 15 municipalities and 13 state legislators followed the Hoboken City Council’s opposition to the fossil fuel project.
After declaring a climate emergency in 2018, Berkeley, California banned gas infrastructure in new buildings in 2019, citing their declaration. This was foundational to the building electrification movement that has moved into several other states. The Sierra Club shows 38 additional municipalities that are phasing out natural gas in buildings in California. Now, a coalition of nearly 70 companies, either headquartered or with operations in California, is urging the governor and the energy commission to enact all-electric codes for residential and commercial buildings in California starting in 2022.
New York City passed their “Climate Mobilization Act,” in April 2019, the United States’ most ambitious local climate action initiative to date, according to a new policy scorecard by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The Act imposes significant financial penalties of any buildings that fail to rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions via energy efficiency upgrades, targeting the city’s largest driver of emissions. The ACEEE scorecard ranked climate action from 100 U.S. cities; 11 of the top twenty cities on the scorecard have adopted our framework and declared a climate emergency.
Climate Mobilization Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. If you would like to contact us please send a message to help@climatemobilization.org
James has retired after working in banking and finance for over 30 years, most recently as a senior portfolio manager in Bank of America’s corporate treasury department. Prior to that role, James worked as a portfolio manager for a variety of entities, including Salomon Brothers and Credit Suisse, as well as smaller start-up firms. He has a longstanding interest in issues related to the climate crisis and its intersection with the financial industry. He has supported organizations such as The Climate Mobilization and The Sierra Club in their efforts to bring about an appropriate response based on the best available science. James holds an MA in physics and a BA in physics and mathematics from Columbia University, and is a CFA charterholder.
Margaret is the founder of The Climate Mobilization (TCM) and Climate Mobilization Project (CMP) and helped catalyze a worldwide climate emergency movement through her work with both organizations. Margaret now serves as Board President and Climate Awakening Program Director. She is the author of Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth (New Society Publishers, April 2020) and several influential essays. She is also a member of the Climate Emergency Fund’s Advisory Board. Margaret earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Adelphi University and a BA in social anthropology from Harvard. Though she loved being a therapist, Margaret felt called to apply her psychological and anthropological knowledge to solving the Climate Emergency.
Matt Renner was born and raised in Berkeley and now lives in Richmond, California and is a father to an awesome three-year-old.
He serves as Vice President of Seneca Solar, a new tribally owned renewable energy and Earth-healing solutions company. The company is owned and controlled by the Seneca Nation of Indians, who have tasked it with profitably and equitably delivering innovative renewable energy solutions that heal the Earth.
In his spare time, he pulls his son around in a trailer behind his ebike, works in the garden, and tries to bring media attention to the rolling disaster that is the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond.
Matt has worked as a nonprofit executive in clean energy, climate policy, and journalism for over a decade, focusing on the near-term social and economic impacts of climate change. Matt earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley.