Alaska Climate Action Network (AK CAN!), formerly known as Alaska Climate and Energy Action Network (AK CLEAN), is a project of Alaska Institute for Climate and Energy (ALICE). ¹ It hosts petitions to advocate eliminating fuel-energy production in Alaska, ending Alaska’s investments in energy production, and subsidizing weather-dependent energy to address issues associated with climate change. ²

Background

Alaska Climate Action Network is an environmental advocacy group that consists of scientists, native Alaskans, and activists. It advocates energy policies that would subsidize the use of weather-dependent energy, eliminate subsidies for conventional energy, divest Alaska’s Sovereign Wealth Permanent Fund, and create public programs for Alaskan communities that it claims are negatively affected by climate change as a result of fuel-energy production and use. ³

In a 2018 amicus brief opposing natural-gas extraction in Alaska, AK CAN! founder Ceal Smith wrote that the group’s advocacy was based on “scientific” research which she clarified was “still unfolding” and based on “personal” and “poetic” testimony. The brief claimed that native Alaskan villages had to relocate due to coastal erosion caused by climate change, resulting in relocation costs of $130 million. Smith concluded: “climate change threatens, not only the buildings, roads and schools, and food security of people living in Alaska’s coastal communities, but the very fabric that binds their culture.” ³

Petitions

In April 2020, Alaska Climate Action Network launched a petition addressed to the Alaska State Legislature which claimed that Alaska is “warming up” three times faster than the global average. The petition also promoted a letter stating that a portion of Alaska is reporting temperature increases double the global average and the Arctic region has temperature increases triple the global average. The petition demanded that legislators phase-out fuel-energy use, expand agriculture subsidies, and implement a carbon tax on energy produced in Alaska. ⁴

In January 2020, AK CAN! published a letter in support of House Resolution 12 that would have created a House Special Committee on Climate Change. The committee would have been able to evaluate bills based on their supposed effects on climate change, investigate issues associated with climate change, and host Alaskans who seek to speak about issues associated with climate change with the Alaskan legislature. ⁵

In 2019, AK CAN! launched a petition opposing Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s (R-AK) firing of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Chair and former Alaska State Sen. Hollis French (D), claiming that the firing was without cause and on account of his commitment to environmental issues. ⁶ Dunleavy’s decision to fire French was based on an investigation from the Department of Law that claimed to have found that French consistently missed work by up to four hours a day, engaged in “browbeating” and challenged the final decisions of the committee, disclosed confidential information to the public, and failed to perform routine work. ⁷ Hearing Officer Tim Petumenos also found that French “reallocated” work to other members of the office due to his absences, affecting the morale of the office. ⁸

Leadership

Ceal Smith is the founder of the Alaska Climate Action Network. ⁹ As of 2026, she was also a research and policy analyst for Alaska Institute for Climate and Energy, a senior program manager for Chukchi Sea Watch, as well as the owner of EcoSmith Associates, an environmental consulting company. Previously, Smith worked as the founder and director of policy and research for Renewable Communities Alliance, an environmental advocacy group based in Oakland, California. ¹⁰

1. AK Climate Action Network (AK CAN!). Facebook. August 7, 2017. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CTbRP372k/.
2. “Alaska Climate Action Network (AK CAN!).” Action Network. Accessed March 21, 2026. https://actionnetwork.org/groups/alaska-climate-action-network-akcan.
3. Smith, Ceal. “Amicus brief/statement of testimony for the People’s Permanent Tribunal on Fracking and Climate Change.” Tribunal on Fracking. April 6, 2018. https://www.tribunalonfracking.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ceal-Smith-ACAN-amicus-4-6-18.pdf.
4. “Alaska Climate Emergency.” Action Network. Accessed March 21, 2026. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/alaska-climate-emergency-2.
5. “Support Alaska House Resolution 12 to establish a Special Committee on Climate Change.” Action Network. Accessed March 21, 2026. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/support-alaska-house-resolution-12-to-establish-a-special-committee-on-climate-change.
6. “Put oil and gas commissioner Hollis French back to work!” Action Network. Accessed March 22, 2026. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-hollis-french-alaskas-oil-gas-commission-chair.
7. Letter to Hollis French. Governor Michael J. Dunleavy. February 26, 2019. https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-wordpress-client-uploads/adn/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/26110302/02.26.19-Comm-Hollis-French-Ltr.pdf.
8. DeMarban, Alex. “Governor fires chair of Alaska oil and gas commission.” Anchorage Daily News. February 27, 2019. https://www.adn.com/politics/2019/02/27/governor-fires-chair-of-alaska-oil-and-gas-commission/.
9. “Alaska Climate Action Network.” Tribunal on Fracking. May 15, 2018. https://www.tribunalonfracking.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ppt51510.pdf.
10. Ceal Smith. LinkedIn. Accessed March 21, 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceal-smith-64006628/.