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Non-profit

Climate Cabinet Action (CCA)

Website:

www.climatecabinetaction.org/
Location:

San Francisco, CA
Tax ID:

85-4196094
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(4)

Type:

Climate Advocacy Group
Formation:

2018
Executive Director:

Caroline Spears
Budget (2022):

Revenue: $321,586
Expenses: $172,107
Assets: $170,272 1

References

  1. “Climate Cabinet Action Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/854196094/202321359349316702/full.

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Climate Cabinet Action (CCA), sometimes known as the Climate Cabinet Action Fund, is a social welfare group that seeks to “solve climate change” by building left-of-center climate policy-supporting legislative majorities at the state and local levels. The organization’s stated goal is to attain legislative majorities in 30 states, 300 counties, and 200 cities. By CCA’s estimation, as of 2023, 18 state legislatures had pro-climate-policy majorities. 1

CCA frequently cites research from Bloomberg Philanthropies indicating that 75 percent of American commitments to the Paris Accord need to be achieved at the state and local level of governance. 2 3

Founder Caroline Spears has referred to CCA as the “Moneyball” of climate politics, in reference to the Michael Lewis book-turned-film about statistical techniques that revolutionized professional baseball. Like the system described in Moneyball, CCA attempts to identify undervalued means and domains of supporting climate change policy. 4 She has also compared CCA to the pro-abortion-access EMILY’s List as a group that attracts campaign funding from single-issue voters. 5

History

Climate Cabinet Action (CCA) and Climate Cabinet Education (CCE) were founded and are run by Caroline Spears. Spears attended Stanford University to earn a degree in atmosphere and energy engineering. While at school, she briefly interned at the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Spears volunteered on numerous political campaigns for Texas legislators over the course of two years. After graduating, from 2017 to 2019, Spears worked as a project finance analyst for Cypress Creek Renewables, a power plant company. During her time there, Spears began volunteer consulting on the side for Texas legislators and presidential candidates concerning environmental policy matters. Spears eventually talked with “around a hundred campaigns” regarding their climate change platforms. 6 7

In 2018, Spears informally founded CCA as her consulting group while still working at Cypress Creek Renewables. In 2019, she quit her job and formally founded CCA as a 501(c)(4). Spears reportedly raised the organization’s initial funds from contacts in Texas environmentalist circles. 8 9 10

Climate Cabinet Scorecard

Climate Cabinet Action (CCA) runs the Climate Cabinet Scorecard, a ranking of how the votes of over 4,200 legislators from 27 states align with CCA’s views of positive climate change policy. Democrats overwhelmingly have higher ratings than Republicans. As of November 2023 in Texas, all 16 legislators with A+ ratings are Democrats, while all 24 legislators with F- ratings are Republicans. 11

The Scorecard’s analysis is based on data provided by numerous left-of-center nonprofits, including numerous chapters of the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, and the Illinois Environmental Council. 12

In August 2020, former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) cited CCA’s legislative research in his “An Open Letter on Climate to Texas.” 13

Political Advocacy

Climate Cabinet Action (CCA) supports the political campaigns of candidates with left-of-center climate change politics. CCA claims that it analyzes a wide range of elections at the state and local level and chooses to support candidates with a high value-to-cost proposition for producing environmentalist policies. 14

During the 2020 election cycle, CCA worked on 100 campaigns. According to CCA, on average these campaigns doubled their climate-related social media engagement. 15 As of November 2023, CCA supports candidates in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Texas State Legislature, the Colorado State Legislature, the North Caroline State Legislature, the New Jersey State Legislature, and the Virginia House of Delegates. 16 CCA also supported candidates running for utility boards. 17

CCA has referred to Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s (D) Evergreen Action Plan as “the gold standard for federal climate action,” and a basic template for their environmental policy consulting. 18

Climate Cabinet 40

CCA lists the Climate Cabinet 40: the 40 most significant “highest climate impact” state legislative races each election cycle. The list includes 20 incumbents and 20 challengers to what it calls “America’s worst anti-climate legislators.” 19

Climate Cabinet PAC

CCA supports political candidates through the Climate Cabinet PAC. During the 2020 cycle, the PAC raised and spent less than $20,000. During the 2022 cycle, the PAC raised almost $400,000 and spent $114,000. As of November 2023, the PAC has raised almost $127,000 and spent almost $84,000 in the 2024 election cycle. 20

A portion of the PAC’s funds are funneled back to CCA for “campaign strategy and communications consulting: almost $17,000 in the 2020 cycle, and over $83,000 in the 2022 cycle. 21

The PAC maintains a “Climate Slate” of endorsed candidates throughout the United States. 22

Climate Cabinet Education

Climate Cabinet Education (CCE) is a project of Climate Cabinet Action (CCA) that provides climate policy recommendations to state and local elected officials. CCE is fiscally sponsored by FFWD (Fast Forward) and takes donations through ActBlue Charities. 23 24

Funding

In 2022, Climate Cabinet Action (CCA) received $50,000 from the Heising-Simons Action Fund. 25

Leadership

Emma Fisher has been the deputy director of Climate Cabinet Action (CCA) and Climate Cabinet Education (CCE) since June 2020. Earlier, Fisher was a fellow at the Clean Energy Leadership Institute, a climate defense organizer for Penn Environment, a campaign organizer for Impact (a campaign organized by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group), and a fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 26 Fisher has said that she was inspired to work in environmental policy by reading a picture-book version of former Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth as a child. 27

References

  1. “Solving Climate Crisis By Empowering Campaigns with Climate Cabinet Executive Director Caroline Spears.” Moonshot. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.moonshot.co/causeandpurposepodcast/solving-climate-change-by-empowering-campaigns-with-climate-cabinet-executive-director-caroline-spears.
  2. “The Climate Cabinet Scorecard.” Climate Cabinet Action. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.climatecabinetaction.org/climate-cabinet-scorecard.
  3. “Solving Climate Crisis By Empowering Campaigns with Climate Cabinet Executive Director Caroline Spears.” Moonshot. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.moonshot.co/causeandpurposepodcast/solving-climate-change-by-empowering-campaigns-with-climate-cabinet-executive-director-caroline-spears.
  4. “Caroline Spears.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-spears-7125408a/.
  5. “Solving Climate Crisis By Empowering Campaigns with Climate Cabinet Executive Director Caroline Spears.” Moonshot. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.moonshot.co/causeandpurposepodcast/solving-climate-change-by-empowering-campaigns-with-climate-cabinet-executive-director-caroline-spears.
  6. “Caroline Spears.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-spears-7125408a/.
  7. “Solving Climate Crisis By Empowering Campaigns with Climate Cabinet Executive Director Caroline Spears.” Moonshot. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.moonshot.co/causeandpurposepodcast/solving-climate-change-by-empowering-campaigns-with-climate-cabinet-executive-director-caroline-spears.
  8. Kreig, Gregory. “New climate group will offer district-specific policy ‘menus’ to every congressional candidate.” CNN. July 2, 2020. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/politics/climate-change-group-plan-congressional-candidates/index.html.
  9. “Caroline Spears.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-spears-7125408a/.
  10. “Solving Climate Crisis By Empowering Campaigns with Climate Cabinet Executive Director Caroline Spears.” Moonshot. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.moonshot.co/causeandpurposepodcast/solving-climate-change-by-empowering-campaigns-with-climate-cabinet-executive-director-caroline-spears.
  11. “The Climate Cabinet Scorecard.” Climate Cabinet Action. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.climatecabinetaction.org/climate-cabinet-scorecard.
  12. “The Climate Cabinet Scorecard.” Climate Cabinet Action. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.climatecabinetaction.org/climate-cabinet-scorecard.
  13. O’Rourke, Beto. “An Open Letter on Climate to Texas.” Medium. August 13, 2020. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://medium.com/@BetoORourke/an-open-letter-on-climate-to-texas-4930d43b6635.
  14. Farley, Shannon. “How Do We Stop Climate Change? Moneyball, Say These Entrepreneurs.” Forbes. October 18, 2021. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/fastforward/2021/10/18/how-do-we-stop-climate-change-moneyball-say-these-entrepreneurs/?sh=1c45e4fd4586.
  15. “Solving Climate Crisis By Empowering Campaigns with Climate Cabinet Executive Director Caroline Spears.” Moonshot. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.moonshot.co/causeandpurposepodcast/solving-climate-change-by-empowering-campaigns-with-climate-cabinet-executive-director-caroline-spears.
  16. “What We Do.” Climate Cabinet Action. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.climatecabinetaction.org/old-climate-cabinet-action.
  17. Altimari, Daniela. “The Rise of the State and Local Climate Candidate.” Route Fifty. July 24, 2022. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.route-fifty.com/infrastructure/2022/07/think-globally-act-locally-downballot-candidates-put-climate-change-center-their-campaigns/374822/.
  18. Kreig, Gregory. “New climate group will offer district-specific policy ‘menus’ to every congressional candidate.” CNN. July 2, 2020. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/politics/climate-change-group-plan-congressional-candidates/index.html.
  19. “Climate Cabinet 40.” Climate Cabinet Action. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.climatecabinetaction.org/old-climate-cabinet-action.
  20. “PAC Profile: Climate Cabinet PAC.” Open Secrets. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/climate-cabinet-pac/C00735183/summary/2020.
  21. “PAC Profile: Climate Cabinet PAC.” Open Secrets. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/climate-cabinet-pac/C00735183/summary/2020.
  22. “Homepage.” The Climate Slate. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.climateslate.com/#about.
  23. “Support Climate Cabinet Education.” ActBlue. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/clicabedu.
  24. “Our Grants.” Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.mcgovern.org/grants/.
  25. “Grants.” Heising-Simons Action Fund. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.hsaction.org/grants/.
  26. “Emma Fisher.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmaphelanfisher/.
  27. Farley, Shannon. “How Do We Stop Climate Change? Moneyball, Say These Entrepreneurs.” Forbes. October 18, 2021. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/fastforward/2021/10/18/how-do-we-stop-climate-change-moneyball-say-these-entrepreneurs/?sh=1c45e4fd4586
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Nonprofit Information


Available Filings

No filings available.

Climate Cabinet Action (CCA)


San Francisco, CA