Climate Majority Project (formerly 50/50 Climate Project) is a left-of-center environmentalist organization that focuses on influencing corporation’s decisions and direction towards adopting the environmentalist agenda. The group seeks to add one or more climate activists to the boards of directors of energy companies like Exxon and Chevron. ¹

Climate Majority Project was created from a merger between 50/50 and Majority Action. ²  Climate Majority Project’s leadership are drawn from left-progressive activist backgrounds including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and United Auto Workers (UAW) labor unions and activist groups like Color of Change. ³

Merger

Climate Majority Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works within major energy companies, including Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, to advocate for the adoption of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. ¹ It also partners with organizations like the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) to advocate for investment firms and retail investors to make investment decisions based on a company’s compliance with ESG policies. ⁴

In 2018, the advocacy organization Majority Action merged with 50/50 Climate Project, which was founded in 2016, and was renamed the Climate Majority Project. Prior to the merger, Majority Action focused on advocating restrictions on firearm ownership and ESG policies after being founded in response to the Parkland High School shooting. Majority Action board member Nell Minow told Responsible Investor that the merger allowed Majority Action to combine its work on gun control advocacy with 50/50 Climate Project and adopt its environmentalist advocacy initiatives. ⁴

Prior to the merger, Majority Action engaged in joint campaigns with SumOfUs to advocate for gun control and has partnered with Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO) and Color of Change to advocate for ESG policies. Responsible Investor also reported that Majority Action merged to shift its focus to advocating for environmentalist policies, marking a shift away from gun control and ESG advocacy. ⁴

50/50

The predecessor organization 50/50 was named to represent its 50 institutional investors which are worth $13 trillion that seek to change environmental policies in 50 of the largest energy companies. A central tactic is to use shareholder voting pressure to add environmentalist activists to boards of directors; the group succeeded 26 out of 34 times, including at Chevron and only narrowly losing at Exxon. ⁵

50/50 interprets the advent of President Donald Trump’s environmental policies as a lesson that relying only on the government to impact climate change and environmental policy is insufficient. ⁶ Therefore, its focus is on influencing corporate boards of directors and shareholders to make policy decisions based upon the threat of climate change. ⁷

50/50 produced a report titled Spending Against Change illustrating that over 20 of the largest American energy and utility companies invested almost $700 million on political spending. ⁸ The report claims that these same companies lead the fight against combatting climate change, face the highest risk from climate change, lack climate risk and political spending oversight, and need environmentalist-aligned board members. ⁹

Reports

Climate in the Boardroom

In February 2025, Climate Majority Project published a report titled “Climate in the Boardroom” that evaluates the proxy voting of the four largest asset managers: BlackRock, Fidelity, State Street, and Vanguard. It evaluates their voting based on their alignment with environmentalist initiatives to prevent a 1.5 degree Celsius change in average temperature and evaluates companies for their alignment with such ESG initiatives. It states that it was produced using funding from the McKnight Foundation, Merck Family Fund, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Park Foundation, the Sunrise Project, and the Wallace Global Fund. ¹⁰

The Climate in the Boardroom report lists weather data, wildfires, and storms that occurred in 2024 to argue that they only could have been possible because of climate change that is a result of carbon emissions. It claims that companies have insufficiently committed to reducing carbon emissions and claims that natural disasters and the deaths caused by them are a result of the carbon emissions. ¹⁰

The report concludes that the biggest asset managers neglected its shareholder proposals, which are largely based on eliminating carbon emissions and the use of conventional energy, and failed to vote in alignment with them despite expressing support for environmentalist efforts that address climate change including the Paris Climate Accord. It also evaluates companies for how much they spent on lobbying for environmentalist policies. ¹⁰

Equity in the Boardroom

In March 2024, Climate Majority Project published a report titled “Equity in the Boardroom” that evaluated the proxy voting of the 18 largest asset managers and two proxy advisors. It evaluated voting records based on a company’s support for racial equity audits, the diversity of a company’s board of directors, lobbying and political activities in support of critical race theory, and whether their collective bargaining addresses issues related to the socio-economic disparities amongst races. ¹¹

The Equity in the Boardroom report states that it was created through funding from the Omidyar Network, Ford Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, Marguerite Casey Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Park Foundation, and anonymous donors. It criticized and condemned companies for reducing the number of critical race theory-aligned policies they have, arguing that they should make all company decisions in a manner that addresses racial inequality. ¹¹

Leadership

In December 2024, Climate Majority Project announced Whitney Shepard and Bryant Sewell as its new c0-executive directors. ¹² Shepard previously worked as a research analyst for the Action Center on Race and the Economy and as a racial justice program coordinator for Center for Community Change. ¹³ Sewell has worked for Climate Majority Project since 2021, being the lead author of its “Climate in the Boardroom” reports and Proxy Season Vote Guides, and working as a campaign organizer. ¹⁴

Eli Kasargod-Staub worked as the initial executive director of Climate Majority Project, who was the co-founder and executive director of Majority Action prior to the merger with 50/50 and works as an advisor as of 2025. ^{14 12} According to his LinkedIn page, Kasargod-Staub formerly worked for the Service Employees International Union and the Australian Council of Trade Unions and sits on the board of Bend the Arc, a left-of-center Jewish-focused advocacy group. ¹⁵

While at Majority Action, Kasgarod-Staub led a failed fundraising campaign to gain shareholder votes for the purpose of ousting Sandra Froman, a director at firearms manufacturer Sturm Ruger and former National Rifle Association president. ¹⁶  He recently was a leader in the “Fire Zuck” initiative aiming to oust Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. ¹⁷

50/50’s pre-merger executive director was Edward Kamonjoh, who formerly worked at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) with current Climate Majority Action board member Nell Minow. ¹⁸ ISS’s mission was to increase diversity on corporate boards by adding more women and minorities. ¹⁹  Kamonjoh’s viewpoints are represented in a study he authored proposing that corporations controlled by a few majority shareholders underperformed and had fewer women and minorities on their boards compared to companies that were not controlled by several large shareholders. ²⁰ He also called for investors to be more involved in the companies they own stock in to ensure they make decisions that benefit shareholders. ⁶ He suggested that in light of President Trump’s policies the successful management of climate risk must include shareholders who perceive the threat of climate change as real. ²¹  After leaving 50/50, Kamonjoh joined the Democracy Collaborative. ²²

Board of Directors

James Rucker is the co-founder and chairman of left-leaning organizations Colorofchange.org²³ and the Citizen Engagement Laboratory and formerly worked at left-wing advocacy group MoveOn.org. ²⁴

Nell Minow was an attorney at the Environmental Protection Agency. Minow’s reputation in corporate governance included setting a record for ousting CEOs at companies including Waste Management, Kodak, Sears, and American Express, which led to Fortune labeling her the “CEO Killer.” ²

Dennak Murphy is a long-term member of the Service Employees International Union’s Capital Stewardship Program responsible for ensuring a million union member’s retirements.

William Patterson comes from the AFL-CIO and United Auto Workers unions and also has a background in corporate governance. Patterson has led initiatives that led to the ouster of Fortune 500 CEOs.

Donors

A significant donor is the left leaning environmentalist Sustainable Markets Foundation. ² The Foundation’s investing focus is supporting organizations that seek to heighten environmental controls and limit the impact of climate change by focusing on the elimination of conventional energy sources. ²⁵

Financials

In 2023, Climate Majority Project reported $3.7 million in total revenue and $4.1 million in total expenses, including $2.4 million in salaries and compensation of employees. ²⁶

1. “About.” Majority action. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.majorityaction.us/about.
2. “Non-Profit Climate Risk Management for Boards and Investors.” 50/50 Climate Project. Accessed November 8, 2019. https://5050climate.org/.
3. “Non-Profit Climate Risk Management for Boards and Investors.” 50/50 Climate Project. Accessed November 8, 2019. https://5050climate.org/about/
4. Hodgson, Paul. “US Shareholder Group 50/50 Climate Project Merges with Firearms-Focused Majority Action.” Responsible Investor, February 11, 2022. https://www.responsible-investor.com/us-shareholder-group-50-50-ma/.
5. “Exxon and Chevron Prone to ‘Groupthink’ on Climate – Study.” Climate Home News. Climate Home, July 16, 2015. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2015/07/16/exxon-and-chevron-prone-to-groupthink-on-climate-study/.
6. Morgenson, Gretchen. “Want Change? Shareholders Have a Tool for That.” The New York Times. The New York Times, March 24, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/business/proxy-climate-change-executive-pay.html.
7. Asher-Schapiro, Avi. “Donald Trump And Climate Change Policy: Investors And Environmental Activists Fear Trump Will Gut Corporate Disclosure Rule.” International Business Times, December 23, 2016. https://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/donald-trump-climate-change-policy-investors-environmental-activists-fear-trump.
8. Accessed November 8, 2019. https://5050climate.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/FINAL-2018-Climate-Scorecard-1.pdf.
9. McRitchie, James. “Spending Against Change Heightens Climate Risk.” Corporate Governance, February 23, 2018. https://www.corpgov.net/2018/02/spending-against-change-heightens-climate-risk/.
10. “CLIMATEIN THE BOARDROOM.” Majority Action, February 2025. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d4df99c531b6d0001b48264/t/67a68ccadede20229f86575f/1738968275914/CITB_FULLREPORT_2024PROXYSEASON_compressed.pdf.
11. “EQUITY IN THE BOARDROOM.” Majority Action, March 2024. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d4df99c531b6d0001b48264/t/65e67bccde60d43fcb78ee48/1709603940358/MA_EITB_FULLREPORT_2023PROXYSEASON.
12. “MA’s New Leadership.” majority action. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.majorityaction.us/fundraiser.
13. “Whitney Shepard.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneyshepard/?originalSubdomain=bo.
14. “About.” majority action. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.majorityaction.us/about.
15. “Eli Kasargod-Staub, CFA.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 13, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-kasargod-staub-cfa-a292815/.
16. Kerber, Ross. “Limited Engagement: Top Funds Backed Gunmaker Ruger Board despite No Talks.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, August 31, 2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-investors/limited-engagement-top-funds-backed-gunmaker-ruger-board-despite-no-talks-idUSKCN1LF2QV.
17. Riley, Tonya. “A Big Fight Is Looming Between Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s Shareholders.” Mother Jones, May 6, 2019. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/05/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-shareholder-resolutions/.
18. “Edward Kamonjoh, Executive Director, 50/50 Climate Project.” ICGN, February 9, 2017. https://www.icgn.org/speakers/edward-kamonjoh-executive-director-5050-climate-project.
19. Wazwaz, Noor. “Confronting Homogeneity In Apple’s Boardroom.” NPR. NPR, February 21, 2016. https://www.npr.org/2016/02/21/467573806/confronting-homogeneity-in-apples-boardroom.
20. Accessed November 8, 2019. https://pcg.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/a-2016-ISS-Study-Controlled-Companies.pdf.
21. Kerber, Ross. “Ahead of Exxon’s Annual Meeting, Shareholders and Investors Push for Climate Action.” Business Insider. Business Insider, May 22, 2017. https://www.businessinsider.com/r-ahead-of-exxons-annual-meeting-climate-activists-gain-ground-2017-5?op=1.
22. “Edward Kamonjoh.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 13, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/edkam/.
23. Rucker, James, ColorOfChange.org, and ColorOfChange.org. “James Rucker.” HuffPost. Accessed November 8, 2019. https://www.huffpost.com/author/james-rucker.
24. “Citizen Engagement Laboratory (CEL).” Citizen Engagement Laboratory (CEL). Accessed November 8, 2019. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/citizen-engagement-laboratory/.
25. “Sustainable Markets Foundation.” Sustainable Markets Foundation. Accessed November 8, 2019. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sustainable-markets-foundation/.
26. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 5050 CLIMATE PROJECT AND CLIMATE MAJORITY PROJECT. 2023. Part I, Lines 12-18.