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We’re a movement of young people fighting to stop the climate crisis and win a green new deal

Our objective

We are the climate revolution

Together, we will force the government to end the era of fossil fuel elites, invest in Black, brown and working class communities, and create millions of good union jobs. We’re on a mission to put everyday people back in charge and build a world that works for all of us, now and for generations to come.

The PROBLEM

Climate change is happening, and it’s intensifying. For decades, fossil fuel executives and the politicians they employ have driven us to climate catastrophe. And now, we are at a crossroads – are we going to fight for power to stop the climate crisis, or are we going to let billionaires and fossil fuel executives lead us to a hotter, more brutal world?

In 20 years from now, the world we live in will be almost unrecognizable.

Heat waves, floods, and hurricanes will become more frequent. By 2050, it’s predicted that 1.2 billion people will have to flee from their homes. Disease will spread. More loved ones will drown or die from heat stroke. We’ll see food getting more expensive – a third of crops are predicted to not be growable. And of course, these costs will hurt all of us, but they will hurt low income, Black and brown communities the most. 

Not only must we stop the crisis from getting worse, but the transition to a new world must be led by us. Will we use this moment to address racism and injustice, or will we let the ultra-wealthy profit off this crisis? 

What the future holds is up to choices we make right now.

Our theory of change

We’re building people power and political power. We fight for what we believe in, no matter what

We are fighting for what science demands – government action that actually meets the scale, scope and urgency of the climate crisis. 

We believe that in order to win the world of our dreams, we must build a movement of thousands of young people across race and class to take to the streets and disrupt business as usual until we force the change we need. Together, we will shift public opinion, elect Green New Deal champions, and fight for Green New Deal policies at every level of government.

Only then can we take over our institutions and win the world we deserve.

Theory of change

Our strategy

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Theory of change

Our story

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Our wins

Movement wins

Mobilizing a generation

Our movement has redefined climate politics in the United States. In 2017, tackling the climate crisis was barely mentioned by politicians. In just 3 years, we grew to have hundreds of chapters across the countries, helped plan the global climate strikes, and forced politicians to finally take the crisis seriously. We pushed until 23 out of 25 Democratic presidential candidates endorsed the Green New Deal. We helped achieve record youth turnout after pushing President Biden to write a more ambitious climate plan. And now with stopping the climate crisis core to our generation, we’re fighting for the full vision of the Green New Deal.

Past actions

2018 Pelosi sit in

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Passing historic climate legislation

For the first time in modern American history, we overcame the political stalemate that has surrounded climate change, and pushed President Biden and Congress to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate bill in U.S. history – and still a compromise on a compromise. It jumpstarts the era of clean energy, but gives handouts to the very worst in the fossil fuel industry. It’s not the Green New Deal, but it was a vital step towards the climate action we need, and wouldn’t have been possible without us.

And after three years of pressure, Biden announced he would formally establish the American Climate Corps — based on Sunrise’s vision of the Civilian Climate Corps. The ACC will put our generation to work in over 20,000 good-paying jobs fighting the climate crisis in just the first year. That’s right – any person in this country, regardless of their background or education level, can work for our government, conserving America’s lands and waters, bolstering community resilience to climate disaster, restoring wetlands and so much more.

Past actions

Passing the inflation reduction act

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Biden announces the American Climate Corps aka the Civilian Climate Corps

Past actions

Winning a Climate Corps

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Transforming the Democratic Party

Sunrise has helped elect hundreds of Green New Deal champions at all levels of government, gotten thousands of politicians to sign the no fossil fuel money pledge, and mobilized our generation to make climate a top issue in our elections. We campaigned aggressively to force climate into every electoral conversation, ensured that climate was a winning issue and helped elect a slate of new climate champions. Our work as a youth climate movement directly resulted in historic youth turnout in 2020 and 2022.

REPORT

2022 electoral impact report

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Movement timeline

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