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). ¹

CCE receives donations through ActBlue Charities. ²

Background

Climate Cabinet Action and Climate Cabinet Education 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. ^{3 4}

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) social welfare organization. Spears raised the organization’s initial funds from contacts in Texas environmentalist circles. ^{5 6 7}

Policy Recommendations

Climate Cabinet Education produces policy guides for local and state officials. The full guides are only available upon request by institutions, though executive summaries for some guides are public. ⁸

Climate-Related Legislation

CCE lists actively considered bills that it endorses or opposes in 27 states. While most bills concern climate and environmental policy, many concern other left-of-center policies. For instance, in many states CCE endorses laws impacting voting regulations; in Arizona, CCE supports a bill that prohibits banks from using social credit scores in considering loans; and in Virginia, CCE supports a bill declaring access to water to be a human right. The analyses of the bills are based on data provided by numerous left-of-center nonprofits, including numerous chapters of the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters. ⁹

Federal Funding Implementation

CCE provides four reports detailing recommendations for states and local governments to attain and use federal funding to combat climate change. The four reports cover public power utilities, promoting transportation based on weather-dependent energy, developing weather-dependent energy infrastructure, and incentivizing electrical utilities in homes. ¹⁰

Guide for Municipal Leaders and Cooperative Leaders

CCE’s Guides for Municipal Leaders and Cooperative Leaders advise on planning and investment for encouraging weather-dependent energy in cities and rural areas respectively. The guides were co-authored by the Pace Energy and Climate Center, the Regulatory Assistance Project, and the Pleiades Strategy, a policy consulting firm based on “justice and equity.” ^{11 12 13}

State Climate Policy

CCE has produced a guide for state legislators outlining the extent of their power over climate change policy. ¹⁴

Fossil Retirement Opportunities

CCE has produced a map of “Fossil Retirement Opportunities” that displays conventional-fuel power stations with generators that are more than 30 years old. ¹⁵

“Clean Energy” Job Map

CCE maintains a map database detailing the number of individuals with “clean energy jobs,” “energy efficiency jobs,” and “renewable energy generation jobs” in U.S. Congressional districts. ¹⁶

Funding

In 2023, Climate Cabinet Education received $250,000 from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. ¹⁷

Also in 2023, CCE received $200,000 from the McKnight Foundation. ¹⁸

Leadership

Emma Fisher has been the deputy director of Climate Cabinet Action and Climate Cabinet Education 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. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰

1. “Our Grants.” Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.mcgovern.org/grants/.
2. Support Climate Cabinet Education.” ActBlue. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/clicabedu.
3. “Caroline Spears.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-spears-7125408a/.
4. “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.
5. 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.
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. “Building Blocks of State Climate Policy.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/building-blocks-of-state-climate-policy/.
9. “Climate Bills.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/climate-bills/.
10. “Federal Funding Implementation.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/federal-funding-implementation/.
11. “A Guide for Municipal Utility Leaders.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/a-guide-for-municipal-utility-leaders/.
12. “Electric Municipal Utilities and the Transition to a Clean Energy Future.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1-Munis-Executive-Summary-1.pdf.
13. “Rural Electric Cooperative and the Transition to a Clean Energy Future.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1-Coops-Exec-Summary.pdf.
14. “Building Blocks of State Climate Policy.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/building-blocks-of-state-climate-policy/.
15. “Fossil Retirement Opportunities.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/fossil-retirement-opportunities/.
16. “7000+ Policymakers and their Clean Energy Jobs.” Climate Cabinet Education. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://climatecabineteducation.org/7000-policymakers-and-their-clean-energy-jobs/.
17. “Our Grants.” Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.mcgovern.org/grants/.
18. “McKnight Foundation.” Twitter. October 26, 2023. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://twitter.com/McKnightFdn/status/1717625090886517165.
19. “Emma Fisher.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmaphelanfisher/.
20. 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.