SustainUS

Background

SustainUS was founded in 2001 by six American environmental activists in preparation for the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. The group initially focused on youth engagement and sustainable development, expanding to emphasize climate “justice and sustainability.” By 2017, it claimed to have trained over 900 young people in advocacy skills and had sent delegations to multiple UN conferences. The organization operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and has maintained a small budget, with revenues peaking at over $200,000 in 2020, and under $20,000 in 2023 and 2024. ^{4 5}

Activities

SustainUS has organized youth delegations to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences of the Parties, including COP23 in 2017 where activists from the organization staged a mass interruption of a side event hosted by the first Trump administration to protest the Administration’s support for traditional sources of fuel such as coal. The group also sent delegations to World Bank annual meetings to advocate shifting finance away from conventional-fuel investments. ⁴

The organization has supported policy positions including a push for zero emissions by 2050, a moratorium on new fuel infrastructure, and a transition to 100 percent weather-dependent energy. It has advocated for increased financing of environmentalist climate-change projects and has also participated in other UN forums including the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Commission. ⁴

The group has subsequently sent delegations to the United Nations Climate Change Conferences (COP) including COP25, COP26, COP27, and COP30 in Belém, Brazil. It launched the California Allegory Youth Fellowship with the Beehive Design Collective and Canticle Farm to train environmental activists in California. ^{6 4}

Funding

In 2019, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation provided a $10,000 grant to SustainUS’ World Bank Youth Delegation through its Emergent Fund. ⁷ Other funders of the organization have included the Snave Foundation, the Sustainable Markets Foundation, the Bristol Fund, the Women Donors Network, the Northlight Foundation, the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, RSF Social Finance, the Marin Community Foundation, the Globalgiving Foundation, Patagonia Org, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the Intuit Foundation, and the National Philanthropic Trust. ¹