How do we make the shift to become an unstoppable social movement?
The first step is easy: look around. Find your allies and your networks, Find ways to collaborate on core messages and objectives. Support and empower each other.
The next step is more challenging, but it holds the greatest potential for success: design movement-wide campaigns.
Movement-wide campaigns are focused on common strategic goals. They are elegant in design, and adaptable to local needs. They can promote global commitments, local climate plans, climate solutions, and much more! They can shape public opinion, influence public policy, and empower leadership.
When we work together towards common goals, we can move mountains.
If this sounds ambitious, it is. If it sounds impossible, it isn’t. A global movement-based campaign is a simple core design that supports the leadership role of each participating organization and leverages their ability to reach out and connect with others. It’s all of us working together to to achieve a common goal.
Movement-wide marketing campaigns can sell our movement. They can help us take action, whether as consumers or voters, through local projects, or as institutions, businesses, and governments.
They give us a voice. Engagement campaigns can translate our values and hope into a call to action.
They help us focus on results. Lobbying campaigns can target the key actions required to develop leadership and achieve milestone targets on the path to achieving our vision.
They show us the way forward. Solutions campaigns can provide the critical marketing support to help help speed up the transition to new technology and approaches.
They support an entire movement. Movement-based campaigns are ones we can share, adapt to local needs, and use to achieve results in our communities.
“Movement-based social marketing” is probably THE most important concept to understand if we want to solve climate change.
A movement is larger than all our organizations and individual action. It is defined by our ability to work together in support of each other and our common goals. Movement-based campaign help bring us together in common cause. They empower leadership and action.
Much of the work for movement-based campaigns are at the front and tail ends of the climate action process. At the front end, campaigns can help market climate action and build social infrastructure and support for climate leadership. Once climate pathways and plans are developed, movement-based campaigns and community support networks can help to market climate solutions.
Success boils down to our ability to sell our values, goals, and solutions – not just to leaders, but to people.
Here’s a list of ideas for movement-based campaigns. They are just that – ideas. There will be links to supporting pages and posts as this site grows.
Feel free to try them out, find potential allies, and suggest alternatives and/or new ideas.
OGANIZING CAMPAIGN: Community Action
Imagine if every local community had a network and a Community Action Plans that tackled local priorities, including climate change and resilience. We’d have a strong foundation for leadership and action.
MARKETING CAMPAIGN: We Care
When people care for each other and the planet, we have a foundation for action.
MARKETING CAMPAIGN: The Climate Arrows
Let’s turn our core goals into a visual identity for climate action. We want a future that is net-zero, resilient, and better.
COORDINATED ACTION: Name and Shame
Never mind the deniers, focus on exposing the people, companies, and organizations behind intentional disinformation campaigns – the ones who profit by sowing doubt and sparking anger in order to create the conditions for inaction.
GLOBAL CAMPAIGN – We’re All In
Every government, every company, everyone. All of us committed to achieving net-zero by 2050 or better.
If there is one single campaign we all need to work on, locally, nationally, and globally, it’s this one. By COP30, at the end of 2025, every national and subnational government, and every major company needs to be part of the climate movement. No exceptions.
ORGANIZING CAMPAIGN – Our COP
A coalition of climate leaders is needed to set a common agenda and benchmarks for COP meetings.
ORGANIZING CAMPAIGN – Climate Alliances
Government, business, and cross-sectoral networks and alliances can engage and support their members and establish best practices and benchmarks for climate leadership, transition pathways, and common strategies.
Blog post coming soon: who are the climate alliances, and how do we measure excellence in climate leadership?
Look for opportunities to promote net-zero pathways via climate allies.
Include movement-based marketing campaigns to promote climate action plans and collaborations.
Promote investments in transition planning. in particular those that include social benefit.
Develop movement-based campaigns to help meet milestone targets, in particular through individual action and social benefit.
Build campaigns around social and economic transfomations that build vibrant and resilient communities, local economies, and a better life for all.
MARKETING CAMPAIGNS: Climate Excellence Awards
Climate networks and independent organizations can recognize leadership in climate action through awards and marketing campaigns to encourage widespread adoption of best practices.
All In is a local-to-global campaign aimed at securing 100% commitment from governments, businesses and organizations to climate leadership – no exceptions. In particular, we seek a commitment to a future that is net-zero, resilient, and better.
The campaign can be used to promote the work of those who are part of the climate movement, but also to encourage the laggards to step up their game.
A global campaign can dovetail with national, subnational, and local campaigns to secure government commitiments, and with campaigns encouraging businesses to make a serious commitment to achieve net-zero emissions.
Organized campaigns can be formed within any jurisdiction – national, regional, or local.
Collaboration among governments and the leading NGOs, businesses, governments and climate networks is key. This can be in the form of a partnership campaign, or (as in the case of America is All In) through a formal networking organization.
A global campaign can support regional campaigns at the national and subnational levels, in particular where governments have not made a strong climate commitment. A global campaign can also help maintain support and pressure for leadership at the annual COP meetings.
Focused campaigns can also be developed by lead organizations or collaborations for economic sectors, (such as finance, forestry, housing, and transportation, etc.) or for other areas of common interest (such as a neighbourhood, faith, or culture).
At the community level, the All In campaign can be used to promote community engagement and to support local businesses and organizations that help connect climate action with a healthy, vibrant, and prosperous community.
In communities or jurisdictions where strong government support is lacking, a community-led initiative may be the prefered option.
AMERICA IS ALL IN is the most expansive coalition of leaders ever assembled in support of climate action in the United States. They come from thousands of U.S. cities, states, tribal nations, businesses, schools, and institutions of faith, health, and culture.
“Being part of America Is All In represents a commitment to drive the transformational climate action that science demands. That means through direct action and advocacy to meet the United States’ goals under the Paris Climate Agreement, halving U.S. emissions by 2030* and reaching net zero emissions by 2050, while guarding against the impacts of climate disruption.” (see https://www.americaisallin.com/join)
This site contains ideas you can adapt and use in your work to support climate leadership and action. All ideas are free to use under a Creative Commons 0 licence. They are ideas, nothing more. Feel free to adapt and adopt, and to suggest other ideas for a stronger climate movement.
Some poster designs have a hashtag to identify the designer. Feel free to contact them for more information on their work.
