“Many sustainability champions are doing great work but are not sharing their successes or how they solved their challenges,” says Dr Debra Rowe, a leader at the UN-linked Higher Education Sustainability Initiative and president of the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development [and mentor for Change the Chamber].

“This group will help people learn from each other to increase the success of their own efforts and get support in a timely manner.”

Debra Rowe, president of the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development [and mentor for Change the Chamber], told University World News that governments, foundations, and businesses need to “increase their understanding of the importance of these sustainable development areas as crucial components for healthy economies and stronger societies, and they should fund research in these areas.

“Graduate students and early career researchers should have opportunities to understand these issues and regularly connect with practitioners and policymakers to inform their research agendas,” said Rowe...

Debra Rowe, president of the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development [and mentor for Change the Chamber], told University World News the paper’s call to emphasise more social sustainability research is important for the creation of a sustainable future.

“At our informal, 20-year-old network, the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability (DANS), dozens of academic societies, including many that focus on social sustainability, have been working on integrating sustainable development into curricula, learning outcomes, research and career advising, but all efforts need to be scaled up to meet societal needs,” said Rowe.

Students have also been pushing for changes in curricula to direct future job markets greenwards. Rowe has been involved with the US-based Change the Chamber group, of more than 100 student groups nationwide, working with environmental justice NGOs, community groups and other allied organisations.

It has created modules proposing changes to skills curricula and a free certificate course called Become an Environmental Changemaker. They have been pressing for more sustainability within business and government, and for students to be ready to tackle resulting green jobs….

One of the main targets of stakeholder demands is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business organization, which has a long record of opposing climate legislation. In early June, a coalition of 50 climate-focused groups issued a letter to the Chamber’s member companies pointing to the misalignment of U.S. Chamber lobbying on federal climate policies with widely held climate goals among its members.

In this issue of ClimateVoices [we are] pleased to be talking to Nina Jacobs, a co-founder of the "Change the Chamber" organization, focused on climate solutions and youth engagement. She is the co-leader of the organization's environmental justice team, which advocates for equitable and just climate policy. Just yesterday, Change the Chamber released a new report detailing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s history of climate denial and resulting obstruction of environmental justice spanning 25 years!

The negative role of trade associations has become a rallying cry for the environmental movement more broadly, as more people wake up to their power and influence. The grassroots group Change the Chamber rallies youth and advocates to put pressure on the group to move away from its anti-climate policies, calling the chamber the "largest dark money, pro-fossil fuel group in the United States." Dozens of groups have joined Change the Chamber’s coalition, and they drive their message through letters, social media campaigns and other organizing efforts.

“While CAC is made up of a dozen national groups as well as several other allies and partners, the cost of inaction effort is led by the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Change the Chamber*Lobby for Climate, Dream Corps Green for All, Earthjustice, Environment America, Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action, National Wildlife Federation, Poder Latinx, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and United Women in Faith."

“Change the Chamber has been educating policymakers over this past year about the high cost of inaction on climate change. CAC’s Cost of Inaction Ticker is an effective way to show people and quickly make the case about the need to urgently act on climate,” said Abigail Waldron, Youth Climate Fellow for Change the Chamber*Lobby for Climate. “In fact, research shows that we can meet the science-based targets for climate action with updated policies and investments in climate, justice, and jobs. Thanks to CAC for sharing and developing this tool for enhanced understanding to show that the climate can’t wait!”

“The Climate Action Campaign (CAC), Sierra Club, Poder Latinx, Change the Chamber*Lobby for Climate, and other climate advocacy groups launched the “Cost of Inaction Ticker.” Built on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Ticker is a visual representation of the relationship between delayed climate action and the increased cost of failing to act.”

“In a press release, student activist Nina Jacobs explained that as “the largest dark money, pro-fossil fuel trade association in the country,” the US Chamber of Commerce “has an extensive history of problematic behavior, including lobbying against climate legislation, supporting climate deniers, backing the fossil fuel industry, and spreading misinformation about climate change. During the 2019-2020 election cycle alone, the group spent nearly $160 million on congressional lobbying.”

“Businesses, by not calling out what the Chamber is doing while they are members of it, are being complacent,” said Aaditi Lele, a freshman at Vanderbilt University, who is a student fellow with Change the Chamber. “A lot of these businesses have also put out statements about sustainability, and do a lot to appear sustainable and forward in terms of the environment, but in the background are taking these actions like running ads against the budget reconciliation and blocking these important climate policies.”

“Change the Chamber, a youth-led campaign started in 2020, is an environmental group whose mission is to call out the Chamber of Commerce’s behavior. The organization began as a way to put pressure on the Chamber to reverse its anti-climate lobbying, but soon expanded its goals once the team realized the Chamber’s extensive funding of climate-deniers. In response, they created a project to contact U.S. senators in order to push for pro-climate legislation. In an interview with Climate xChange, project leaders Steph Jordan and Evey Mengelkoch discussed the organization’s latest effort to combat the anti-climate lobbying being done by the Chamber.”

“Last week, Change the Chamber, a student-led coalition of 100+ youth groups supported by more than two dozen national climate organizations, sent an open letter to companies still paying dues to be part of the Chamber of Commerce, calling on them to leave the trade group if it doesn’t stop lobbying against climate action. The letter highlights the “two unacceptable risks” created by companies that support the Chamber, given its lobbying on climate. First is the obvious risk the warming planet poses to their bottom line as extreme weather complicates supply chains and drought, fires and other extreme weather events upend years-long corporate plans. The second is the reputational risk posed by their membership in the anti-climate-policy-lobby-group.”

“Clearly the Chamber is more interested in looking like it’s changing on climate change than it is actually changing its position. So as Senator Whitehouse said, ‘Change the Chamber or QUIT the Chamber’ because ‘We need climate action NOW.”

“In a recently released report, the group exposes the Chamber’s multi-pronged strategies to keep America hooked on fossil fuels….As consumers and future workers, they find themselves in a unique position to pressure the Chamber’s member businesses — and shift their course of action.”

“With its headquarters overlooking the White House, the Chamber of Commerce has a huge influence on American politics. DeSmogBlog is out with a story about an environmental group's report digging into the chamber's power and how it has advocated for fossil fuels.”

“The chamber, once derided as the Chamber of Carbon by climate activists, last year acknowledged climate crisis is real, caused by humans, and requires action. After analyzing the chamber’s lobbying, litigation, and campaign spending, [Change the Chamber] wrote in the introduction to the study: ‘We are disappointed to report that the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the Chamber continues to promote fossil fuel interests over science-based climate action. Its recent pivot on climate is, so far, cosmetic.”

“A new campaign targeting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its lobbying on climate change issues published a report today criticizing the pro-business lobbying and advocacy group for continuing to push for pro-fossil fuel policies despite recognizing that climate change is real…the new report, authored by the Change the Chamber campaign, finds that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has since lobbied on both sides of the issue, reporting 57 separate lobbying efforts from 2019 to summer 2020 that relate to energy and the environment. The organization's efforts were successful on a dozen of those items — all of which, the report says, ‘were pro-fossil fuel outcomes.”

“The [Change the Chamber] campaign comes as the Chamber has sought to update its climate stance, in part from members' pressure that ultimately pushed it to form a Members Task Force on Climate Action, though companies like Apple still left over its climate change stance. But skepticism remains about whether the Chamber has made a concerted effort to support climate goals beyond efforts to back certain energy technologies and endorse permitting reforms.”