Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (Congregations Caring for Creation)

Background

Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light was founded in 2004 as “Congregations Caring for Creation” and re-launched in 2010 as “Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light.” It is a faith-based environmentalist education and advocacy organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ¹

Work Areas

Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light works with religious groups in Minnesota to encourage advocacy for the environmentalist policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It provides leadership development and coaching for congregational climate teams. It hosts community organizing events and rallies, organizes meetings with federal and state legislators to advocate for climate policies, and assists in community solar transitions projects.  ^{1 3}

MNIPL offers several group workshops, with topics covering transitioning to solar, fossil fuel financial divestment, advocacy training, and reducing household carbon footprints. ⁴

MNIPL’s Community Climate Resilience Network is a program to train and support faith-based organizations interested in establishing community-based resilience hubs. Resilience hubs are meant to provide services to communities in times of need, such as food, shelter, and electricity. They can also be used as a centralized meeting place for training and support on ways to transition communities to so-called carbon-free environments. ^{5  6}

MNIPL offers a climate justice certification program for communities of faith to become Climate Justice Congregations. As of 2026, it listed 32 congregations of various denominations as certified. ⁷

MNIPL supports and advocates for racial reparations, which it defines as the “return of wealth, power, and land that the United States and its citizens stole from Black and Indigenous people through slavery and colonization.” It offers a Reparations Learning Labs program intended for “White-bodied people” to learn about reparations and develop actions accordingly. ⁸

Advocacy

In May 2021, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light filed an amicus brief supporting plaintiffs challenging the Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline expansion, claiming they failed to evaluate climate and environmental impacts on urban communities of color in north Minneapolis. ⁹

In April 2024, MNIPL was one of 23 organizations that signed a letter of support for “legislation returning land to Indigenous nations” to the Minnesota legislature. ¹⁰

In February 2026, MNIPL participated in a gathering outside the Federal Building in Minneapolis to protest the increased U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) presence and surge in detentions. ¹¹

As of 2026, MNIPL had identified several advocacy priorities. It supported a two-year moratorium on the approval and construction of massive data centers proposed by organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. It was proposing legislation to support solar installations within communities that are owned by the communities rather than for-profit utilities. MNIPL was pushing legislation to hold insurers accountable for more affordable coverage and to end practices like using credit scores to charge lower‑income Minnesotans higher rates. ¹²

Associated Groups

Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light is a member of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, a state-wide coalition of over 70 organizations focused on climate, conservation, and the environment. Other members include the Fresh Energy, the League of Women Voters Minnesota, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, MN350, the National Parks Conservation Association, Resilient Cities and Communities, Solar United Neighbors, the Center for Biological Diversity, Climate Generation, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land, and Vote Climate. ¹³

MNIPL is part of the Climate Justice Commons collective focused on Minnesota climate justice, which is defined as addressing the “disparate impacts of climate change on Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color, low-income communities, communities in the Global South, and others.” Rise and Repair and Youth N’ Power are also part of the Climate Justice Commons collective. ¹⁴

Rise and Repair is an alliance of organizations working together on campaigns and advocacy to support “Indigenous rights and climate justice.” Alliance partners include Clean Up the River Environment, Friends of the Boundary Waters, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and the Sierra Club North Star Chapter. ¹⁵

Youth N’ Power encourages youth activism related to environmental justice, international human rights, and Indigenous rights through trainings, summer camps, field trips, and conferences. ¹⁶

MNIPL works with Solar United Neighbors on solar co-op development and installations. ¹⁷

Leadership

As of 2026, Julia Nerbonne and Jim Bear Jacobs were the co-executive directors of Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light. ^{18 19}

Nerbonne has worked as an executive director of MIPL since 2013. She is also an adjunct professor for the University of Minnesota Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Department where she earned a Ph.D. She was the founding director of MN350, a state chapter of national environmentalist advocacy group 350.org. In 2003, she joined the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs as a program director for environmental sustainability before moving to MNIPL. HECUA offers academic programs in support of “social justice, peace, and environmental sustainability.” ^{18  20  21}

Jacobs joined MNIPL as co-executive director in January 2026. Prior to joining MNIPL, he was program director for racial justice for the Minnesota Council of Churches. He is a member of the Mohican Nation. ^{19  22}