Ember is an environmental think tank based in London, England. Founded in 2008 as the Sandbag Climate Campaign, which was created to reform the European Union’s (EU) carbon-emissions trading market, also known as the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The organization re-branded in 2020 to reflect its new focus on accelerating the transition of coal-fueled electricity to environmentalist-aligned electricity generation methods. ^{1 2}

The organization was founded by Bryony Worthington, an environmentalist campaigner and member of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords since 2011. ³

Ember is funded by several left-of-center environmental organizations including the European Climate Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Sunrise Project, and the World Wildlife Fund. ⁴

Background

Ember is a left-of-center environmental think tank that was founded in London, England, in 2008. Ember is the trading name of the Sandbag Climate Campaign, also known as Sandbag, which was created to reform the European Union’s (EU) carbon-emissions trading market, also known as the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). ⁵

Sandbag began operating out of Brussels, Belgium in 2013. The organization decided to keep focusing on EU climate policy from Brussels, while its London-based organization renamed itself. ⁶

The organization rebranded itself as Ember in 2020 to reflect its change in area of focus from pushing for policy changes in coal extraction and carbon emissions in the European Union to a global focus on accelerating the transition of coal-fueled electricity to environmentalist methods, such as wind turbines and solar, by 2040. ^{7 8}

Ember was founded by Bryony Worthington, an environmentalist campaigner and member of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords since 2011. ⁹

Affiliated Organizations

Ember is a member of the Renewables Grid Initiative, a left-of-center environmentalist initiative created by a collaboration of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including the World Wildlife Fund, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and Birdlife International. ¹⁰

People

Ember was founded by Bryony Worthington, an environmentalist campaigner and member of the U.K. House of Lords since 2011. Baroness Worthington was a campaigner for Friends of the Earth, sat on the board of trustees of the World Wildlife Fund, was co-director of the Quadrature Climate Foundation from 2020 until 2022, and sits on the board of directors for New Automotive, a left-of-center environmental organization that aims to accelerate the full transition to electric vehicles in the United Kingdom. ^{11 12}

Funding

According to a list on its website, Ember is funded by several left-of-center environmental organizations including the European Climate Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Sunrise Project, and the World Wildlife Fund. ¹³

The organization also received funding from left-of-center grantmaking organizations.

The ClimateWorks Foundation is a left-of-center “pass-through” funding entity that distributes funds from donors to environmentalist advocacy groups around the world. The foundation granted Ember $150,000 in 2021 and gave $800,000 to the Sandbag Climate Campaign in 2023. ^{14 15}

The KR Foundation is a private philanthropic organization based in Copenhagen, Denmark that gives grants to nonprofits dedicated to putting an end to the use of conventional energy, notably including 350.org. The foundation granted the Sandbag Climate Campaign one million Danish Krone (approximately $145,000) in 2018. ¹⁶

The Network for Social Change is a left-of-center network of individuals that provides funding to organizations that push for “progressive social change,” and grants around £1 million (approximately $1.25 million) to organizations annually. The Network for Social Change granted Sandbag £7,625 (around $10,000) in start-up funding in 2009. ^{17 18}

1. Jones, Dave. “Our History.” Ember. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ember-climate.org/about/history/.
2. Guterres, António. “Why clean electricity?.” Ember. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ember-climate.org/about/why-clean-electricity/.
3. “Baroness Bryony Worthington.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryony-worthington-9131018/details/experience/.
4. “Energy & Climate Think Tank.” Ember. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ember-climate.org/about/.
5.  Jones, Dave. “Our History.” Ember. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ember-climate.org/about/history/.
6. “About Sandbag Climate Campaign.” Sandbag Climate Campaign. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://sandbag.be/about/.
7. Jones, Dave. “Our History.” Ember. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ember-climate.org/about/history/.
8. Guterres, António. “Why clean electricity?.” Ember. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ember-climate.org/about/why-clean-electricity/.
9. “Baroness Bryony Worthington.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryony-worthington-9131018/details/experience/.
10. “Ember.” Accessed August 28, 2023. https://renewables-grid.eu/about/members/ember.html
11. “Baroness Bryony Worthington.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryony-worthington-9131018/details/experience/.
12. “New AutoMotive.” New AutoMotive. July 5, 2023. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://newautomotive.org/.
13. “Energy & Climate Think Tank.” Ember. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ember-climate.org/about/.
14. “Grants database.” ClimateWorks Foundation. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.climateworks.org/grants-database/?sort_by=newest&search=ember&posts_per_page=20.
15. “Grants database.” ClimateWorks Foundation. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.climateworks.org/grants-database/?sort_by=newest&search=sandbag&posts_per_page=20.
16. “List of Grants 2017.” KR Foundation. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://krfnd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/List-of-grants_2017_new.pdf.
17. “About us.” The Network For Social Change. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.thenetworkforsocialchange.org.uk/about-us/about_us_2.html.
18. March 24, 2015. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.thenetworkforsocialchange.org.uk/uploads/docs/public_website_docs/NSC%20funding%20report%202011%20with%20addendum.pdf.