American Climate Futures The Challenge Standing at a crosswords: A call to action In the last five years, there has been an influx of investment in technical climate solutions to address global emissions. While billions of dollars are invested in US climate solutions annually, only a small percentage is allocated to support the communities most vulnerable to its impacts. Many in the private sector are working to address justice and equity as part of their climate solutions but lack specificity as to where to take meaningful action. Ambiguity around equity-centered community engagement, including a lack of shared language and process, have prevented necessary concrete and urgent action. Our goal through this work is to amplify and support the stories, voices and frontline community efforts that have long been excluded from mainstream discussions on climate solutions, and to provide practical guidance to inform private sector action in alignment with principles of climate justice and equitable partnerships. About American Climate Futures American Climate Futures is a national program aiming to ensure the needs and voices of those most impacted by climate change in the US are at the forefront of future climate related solutions, goal-setting, planning, and development — while also challenging the systemic inequalities that got us here in the first place. Through focus groups and interviews with community members in climate vulnerable areas, we know the challenges they’re facing are vast. When asked what actions these community members want to see from businesses acting on climate justice, here’s what we heard: “Businesses should be embedded in communities & invest in physical & mental health, along with education. Providing people in communities with jobs & career paths will uplift all.” “There has been so much harm done by businesses in the past, so there is a big issue of trust. When local companies want to pitch in, people are concerned that their image will show up & it will look like we are supporting their practices. Therefore, we only engage with folks who we trust and have worked with in the past. We must build those relationships before a crisis, so the trust is already there when we need help.” “Businesses don't need to advertise their support -- if they’re a part of the community then we will know they donated, their generosity doesn’t have to be a public political move.” “Hire from the communities you work in! If you know someone who works at X business, because they’re from your community, that makes a world of difference.” *The above quotes are from interviews and workshops conducted by Forum for the Future in 2022 and 2023 and are anonymous. To hear more from community members working on the frontlines of climate justice, listen to the American Climate Futures podcast, a special edition of the Futuring Podcast which aims to shine a light on changemakers who are meaningfully accelerating climate justice and radical collaboration across the United States, showing that the urgent and necessary change is possible and already here. Find us on your favorite podcasting platforms: Spotify, Google Podcast, Amazon Music, Listen Notes and more. Listen to The American Climate Futures podcast What's next We are continuing to building on the work and partnerships that we have established since American Climate Futures launched in 2022. We will continue to work with our formal and informal partners to enable the needs and voices of those most impacted by climate change to be prioritized and centered in corporate climate solutions. We will also ensure that these solutions are developed in a more inclusive and just way. Our focus areas include: Building a case for change: We are working to socialize the private sector guidance and elevate community voices by hosting and participating in a series of events to publicly share the guidance. If you are interested in booking a presentation for your corporate team or event, please reach out to learn more. Place-based community engagements in targeted, climate vulnerable areas: We will continue to host listening sessions within climate vulnerable communities and ideate around climate justice with key stakeholders. We aim to work with anchor businesses more deeply in communities, build bridges and trust, and help initiate collective action on specific, identified challenges. Our first place-based community engagement will take place in Chester, PA. If you are working in the Chester or Philadelphia area and would like to be involved, please reach out. Focused deep dives: This includes additional research and roundtables to go deeper into what's needed from sectors; and deeper dives into topics such as supply chains, policy advocacy, climate financing, and governance. We plan to host a roundtable at Climate Week NYC 2024. Individualized work with businesses: This work will build internal awareness and capacity to accelerate action on climate justice and can include Forum-led workshops with corporate teams (e.g., plant management teams, sustainability teams, C-suite) to review the learnings of the guide and consider how they might apply to your team. We are looking for program partners, funders, and collaborators, and invite you to reach out if you are interested in learning more about this work and how you can get involved. Please contact Ksenia Benifand for more information. Get in touch Who’s involved Manage Cookie Preferences