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2023 Annual Report

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2023 ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT

Dear friends,

profile photo of al gore profile photo of phyllis cuttino

Dear friends,

As you know, we are in a critical decade for our planet. The science could not be clearer: To meet our Paris Agreement goals and protect future generations from the unchecked impacts of the climate crisis, we must cut global emissions in half this decade.

At The Climate Reality Project, we are clear-eyed about the scale of the transformation required and the challenge we face. But we are also insistent that the solutions we need are in our hands. We have the technology to build a sustainable future. What we lack is the political will to overcome a fossil fuel industry committed to protecting profits at all costs.

In 2023, we saw signs that the political winds are changing, thanks to the tireless efforts of advocates around the world demanding an end to fossil fuels. For the first time in history, at the UN’s international climate negotiations, known as COP 28, the international community set a formal goal to transition away from coal, oil, and gas and reach net zero by mid-century.

While this agreement won’t mean anything until we see clear action from world leaders to make that transition, something important happened at COP 28 that went far beyond the words on the page: The world collectively began to envision a better future powered by clean energy.

Of course, this didn't happen overnight or by accident. One of the reasons that so many countries demanded a fossil fuel phaseout at COP 28 is the work of the advocates you’ll hear about in this impact report.

Since our founding, we’ve trained people of all ages and walks of life to become the very leaders driving the climate movement forward. We’ve grown our footprint to 11 branch programs around the world and 100 chapters across the US to support and mobilize these Climate Reality Leaders and our entire network of 3.5 million supporters to not only meet the moment but also make major moments that drive climate progress.

In 2023, we launched global campaigns that organize our network to achieve four objectives critical to halving emissions by 2030:

  1. Speed the transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.
  2. Reform global finance to ensure this transition is fair and accessible to Global South countries.
  3. Call out the industry greenwashing holding back progress.
  4. Make the UN’s COP process work better and galvanize international cooperation to drive the outcomes we need.

The report below tells the story of how people around the world joined us in pursuing these goals in 2023. Advocates in the US harnessed the biggest climate investment in history to accelerate electrification and help transform the world's largest economy into an unstoppable force for climate action. Branches in the Philippines and Africa mobilized climate vulnerable nations to push for change at the World Bank. Young advocates in Latin America represented their nations and called for bold action at COP 28 in Dubai. And so much more.

The net result is that, around the world, people are joining together with Climate Reality and our allies – through trainings, campaigns, and more – to build a better tomorrow, powered by clean energy.

This work is only possible thanks to supporters and partners like you, and we are deeply grateful. Thank you for being part of the movement making a sustainable future a reality.

Sincerely,

Al Gore
Founder and Chairman

Phyllis Cuttino
President and CEO

Expanding and diversifying a global movement

At The Climate Reality Project, we’re building a diverse and intergenerational movement with the numbers and know-how to take on the fossil fuel industry and speed a just transition to clean energy worldwide.

We start by recruiting, training, and equipping activists through our signature Climate Reality Leadership Corps training program. Trainings convene people from all walks of life and give them the skills and network to act on climate.

By the close of 2023, Climate Reality had hosted 54 trainings, producing a network of Climate Reality Leaders from 192 countries who form the nucleus of a 3.5-million-strong global network.

Last year, your partnership enabled us to take our proven training model to new issue areas and global regions, training thousands of new Climate Reality Leaders from 32 different countries. These trainings helped Americans take advantage of historic climate laws to electrify their lives, explored new models for sustainable growth in South Korea, and built momentum for clean energy in West Africa.

These trainings are just the beginning. They seed partnerships with local climate organizations. They build intergenerational networks. And, most importantly, they have a ripple effect as newly trained “super activists” take on climate leadership roles and mobilize their communities for climate solutions.

Together, these Leaders are driving real change from the ground up. And your support is making it possible.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Expanding and diversifying a global movement
192
COUNTRIES
100
US CHAPTERS
11
branches
14
G20 countries

Climate Reality Leadership Training on IRA & BIL Implementation

April 2023

The historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) represent the largest investment in climate action in US history and open the door to a clean energy future for the nation. Yet even months after the bills’ passage, too few Americans knew about the many incentives available to help them reduce emissions and electrify their homes and communities.

In April, we held a major virtual training to educate individuals, community leaders, local government workers, and more on how they could take advantage of these incentives and help the nation rapidly cut emissions and build a clean energy economy.

As one of the first large-scale education efforts in the nonprofit community on implementing these laws, the training featured an all-star lineup of speakers and experts, including a taped welcome address from President Joe Biden.

Cabinet-level leaders from a host of government agencies joined organizers and experts in panel conversations and lightning talks to help trainees take full advantage of the laws. In addition, skill-building and networking sessions and action opportunities empowered Leaders to spread the word about the IRA, including its climate justice provisions, and immediately put their training to work.

Through this training, we learned that our volunteer network is committed to doing the on-the-ground work of a clean energy transition in their communities and are hungry for more resources to help them do it.

Key impacts
  • Launched Our Climate Moment: From Acts to Action (FA2A), an implementation campaign mobilizing Climate Reality Leaders, chapter members, and US supporters to spread the word about the IRA in their local communities. The campaign focuses on education around individual incentives like building electrification and electric vehicle tax credits.
  • Chapters with newly trained leaders committed to running education and advocacy implementation campaigns.
  • A coalition of New York chapters developed a customized suite of resources based on what they learned at the training, and chapter members have been presenting information about IRA incentives across the state.  

"I am a town board member and trying to navigate the grants available through both federal aid bills is daunting for local staff and local organizations. We are challenged by the hours needed. This training was most important to me as an elected official and trained Leader to help my coastal town complete its transition to renewables and for resiliency. Thank you.”
–Power Up: From Acts to Action trainee Cate Rogers from East Hampton, NY

Climate Reality Leadership Training in South Korea

August 2023

As an emerging cultural and economic powerhouse, South Korea can play a critical role in energy transition and serve as a model for nations across Asia. Our Seoul training in August aimed to seize this moment and build a movement to push Korea’s political and business leaders to strengthen their climate commitments.

The training was our first in the region – and for many attendees, their first cross-sector advocacy event. Partner organizations commented that they have never been to an event with such a large and diverse audience, including heads of state, business leaders, civil society, and elected officials and their staff.

The training explored the current state of the climate crisis in South Korea – the 13th-highest greenhouse gas emitting country – as well as emerging solutions, advocacy opportunities, and the future of sustainable business practices.

Key Impacts:
  • A broadened coalition of climate advocates in the region, especially young people – approximately 45% of training participants were aged 30 and under.
  • Elevated the role that local government can play in energy transition though a panel and media interviews featuring South Korean governors.
  • Amplified the work of 10 local partners working on climate policy, local government action, clean energy transition, sustainable investing, and more.

"I’ve been blind to corporate greenwashing, but through [the] Korean training last August, I got closer to the truth and was able to recognize the reality more correctly.”
–  Seoul Climate Reality Leadership Training attendee

Climate Reality Leadership Training in West Africa

November 2023

Blessed with tremendous wind and sun, many countries in West Africa have the natural resources to expand electricity access and strengthen their economies with clean energy. Realizing this potential will depend on a combination of targeted policies at home and financial reforms abroad to ensure they have the fair credit and funding to build resilient clean energy economies.

In November, we held a training in Accra, Ghana, to build the people power to make this a reality, bringing together climate advocates representing 12 West African nations and 23 total countries. Along with Vice President Gore’s signature slideshow, the training featured sessions on financing a just transition, clean energy and jobs, and resilient livelihoods, among other areas. In tandem with the Accra event, a satellite training in Lagos, Nigeria – hosted by the Global Shapers Community Lagos Hub – enabled us to train even more advocates.

Key impacts:
  • Amplified the African Climate Reality Project’s strong work on climate finance and strengthened branch capacity with an influx of volunteers.
  • A new and highly motivated community of young advocates in the region, with 45% of attendees aged 30 and under.
  • Growing visibility for 10 local partners working on issues including climate impacts on agriculture, clean energy development, transparency with oil and gas policy, and more.
  • Increased media coverage and public awareness of climate issues – especially the pernicious impact of fossil fuel subsidies.    

“I made connections with environmental activists from the Gambia, Nigeria and [Côte d'Ivoire]. Together we can build an international coalition to protect the environment.”
– West Africa Climate Reality Leadership Training attendee 

Driving Action through
Global Campaigns

As a world-renowned thought leader on climate, our founder – former Vice President Gore – has the singular ability to create moments of global conversation and opportunity on key issues. And with our network of 3.5 million supporters, we’re able to mobilize advocates worldwide to seize these moments to drive progress and policy wins when it matters.

Your support has helped us train and build a bigger, more global, and more diverse network than ever. With our window to hold warming to 1.5 degrees closing rapidly, in 2023, we launched a new strategic plan to focus the power of this network on four global campaign areas critical to the system change needed to stop rising temperatures.

OUR GLOBAL CAMPAIGNS

Click to learn more.

icon of two people passing a flag to show international cooperation

International Cooperation →
  • Encourage governments to strengthen their climate commitments through the COP process and hold them accountable to their pledges.
  • Push for better outcomes from the COP process.
icon of person holding a scale

Financing a Just Transition →
  • Move public funding rapidly toward financing a just transition to clean energy, with fair and accessible credit for Global South nations.
  • Eliminate funding for fossil fuel projects.
icon of a no factories sign

Reducing Emissions →
  • Halve global emissions by 2030.
  • Stop new fossil fuel and petrochemical projects and shut down existing infrastructure.
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Calling Out Greenwashing →
  • Hold polluters, especially the oil and gas industry, accountable for their role in the climate crisis and for blocking progress toward solutions.

Strengthening International Cooperation

In 2023, Climate Reality and advocates around the world saw major progress at COP 28: a final agreement urging countries to transition away from fossil fuels. And we brought the full force of our unique organizational model to help build the political will needed to make it happen.

Former Vice President Gore started by calling out the conflict of interest in having the head of a major oil company lead the premier global climate gathering, and we kept up that narrative throughout the year through high-profile media placements and petitions calling for change.

These efforts helped focus the agenda at COP 28, where former Vice President Gore, over 300 Climate Reality Leaders, organizational leadership, and staff from nine different Climate Reality branches were on the ground in Dubai. In coalition with other climate organizations and advocates, they worked closely with negotiators to refine the final agreement. Twenty-six young people served as country delegates through Operación COP, a project of Climate Reality Latin America that trains young people in climate negotiations.

In the end, Climate Reality’s efforts, along with other advocates, helped produce an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels and achieve net zero by 2050. While the agreement falls short of the complete phaseout we worked for, it signals the beginning of the end of fossil fuels and paves the way for a tripling of renewables and doubling of energy efficiency this decade.

By the numbers:
On the ground in Dubai
300+
CLIMATE REALITY LEADERS
9
branches with staff
26
young delegates from the Latin American and Brazilian branches
75%
Leaders in Dubai with direct access to country delegates

Bringing the World to COP 28: 24 Hours of Reality

Each year, our signature 24 Hours of Reality media event uses personal stories, interviews, and other features to elevate a key issue in the climate fight.

For 2024, we turned the cameras on UN climate talks in Dubai with 24 Hours of Reality: On the Ground at COP 28, bringing audiences worldwide into the heart of the conversations that shape our planet’s future and the push to phase out fossil fuels.

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FINANCING A JUST TRANSITION

For decades, institutions like the World Bank and other multilateral development banks have bankrolled climate-changing coal, oil, and gas projects across the planet. Meanwhile, Global South nations too often struggle to access the fair credit and funding they need to develop clean energy, leaving many with no option but fossil fuels. 

Climate Reality aims to change that. We work to elevate the visibility of climate finance as a critical component of global climate efforts and the energy transition. Combining public education with pressure campaigns targeting bank decisionmakers, we push for key reforms that shift financial flows from fossil fuels to clean energy and ensure energy transition is both fast and fair for everyone.

Making a Moment: New Leadership and Priorities at the World Bank

In September 2022, former Vice President Gore catalyzed a major global moment by calling out then-World Bank President David Malpass as a climate denier.

The media seized on the story, and we seized on the opportunity to publicize the bank’s history of funding fossil fuels in the face of all science (see media impact overview in chart). Through month after month of op-eds, digital petitions, and media campaigns, we helped ensure the bank’s history never fully disappeared from the headlines, generating real political pressure on its president.

In February 2023, World Bank President Malpass announced his early retirement in February 2023. The man chosen to replace him, former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, quickly pledged to make climate a priority.  

With new leadership at the bank, we continued pushing for reforms. In October 2023, all 11 of our branches joined a letter sent to the bank’s governors calling on them to act aggressively on the climate crisis through five policy shifts. Philippines Branch Manager Nazrin Camille Castro then raised Climate Reality’s demands in person at the World Bank’s fall meetings in Marrakech.

nazrin castro speaking at a table during the world bank meeting

Shortly thereafter, President Banga announced the adoption of two reforms Climate Reality called for: Increasing climate finance and dividing funding more equally between adaptation and mitigation.

This victory demonstrates the success of our organizational model: Vice President Gore is uniquely able to “make a moment” on the global stage that we seize, reinforcing his message with advocacy by our global network and communication campaigns that drives world leaders to act.

A timeline of mallpass's resignation from september 2022 to february 2023, showing media spikes in those months. In between, the key moments leading to his resignation were a call of resignation from Al Gore, shareholder meetings, COP 27,and continued calls to action from Al Gore at the world economic forum.

DEV MARKER - IGNORE

By the numbers:
Progress on Climate Finance
457%
increase in references to climate change on the World Bank website since September 2022
10
Multilateral development banks pledge to boost collaboration on climate
2/5
Climate Reality’s suggested World Bank reforms progress
4
US states advanced green banks

Impact stories

climate leaders in africa speak at a table during a session
The African Climate Reality Project is demystifying climate finance →
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The African Climate Reality Project is demystifying climate finance

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) have the potential and responsibility to play a key role in the energy transition. But most people don’t understand what they are, let alone how to advocate to make them better.

The African Climate Reality Project has been shining a light on these powerful-but-opaque institutions and pushing for change through its public finance campaign.

In July 2023, the branch, as part of the Fair Finance Coalition Southern Africa (FFCSA), hosted the first-ever Fair Finance School (FFS) in Johannesburg. This three-day training equipped communities to participate in public finance processes, with sessions on the human rights impacts of public finance, how to set up a climate finance campaign, tips for engaging the media, and more.

Through the FFCSA, the branch also developed an activist guide that is available online and has already started developing an online Fair Finance curriculum. This has created opportunities for other communities to host a Fair Finance School, expanding the reach of the program.

Climate Reality’s Leadership Corps training in Accra, Ghana in November 2023 added to the chorus of voices in West Africa urging reform.

Now, this expanding number of highly skilled grassroots advocates is uniting around calls to the African Development Bank to stop funding fossil fuels and instead provide fair and accessible credit for clean energy projects.

street in the philippines filled with smog and people walking through itr
Fighting for Climate-Vulnerable Countries →
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Fighting for Climate-Vulnerable Countries

Climate Reality’s Philippines branch is a powerful force fighting for countries highly impacted by a climate crisis they did almost nothing to cause. Through grasstops advocacy at major global forums, the branch pushes for climate-vulnerable nations to get the finance they need to address climate change and transform their energy systems.

Branch Manager Nazrin Camille Castro actively participates in the Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20), a coalition of finance ministers and civil society organizations from climate-vulnerable countries representing more than 1.7 billion people. Together, the V20 is advocating for changes to global financial systems to help developing economies reach their climate commitments.

And at every major global gathering on climate finance, from World Bank meetings to COPs to climate weeks, Climate Reality Philippines can be found amplifying the concerns of the most vulnerable.

person's hand stacking small plants on top of coins
US Climate Reality Leaders achieve green bank victories →
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US Climate Reality Leaders achieve green bank victories

The historic Inflation Reduction Act provides significant funding to establish state-based green banks to support new clean energy and other climate projects in local communities.

Recognizing this incredible opportunity, Climate Reality Leaders and chapters in Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Oregon began organizing advocates and working with lawmakers to develop legislation to create green banks for their states. Their efforts helped pass an ambitious law in Minnesota establishing a green bank with just transition provisions that can serve as a model for the nation.

Meanwhile, progress by chapters in other states in developing green bank provisions laid the groundwork for continued action in future legislative sessions.

Our Leaders and chapters helped build the energy to make these victories possible. They held hundreds of meetings with state legislators and their staff, attended committee meetings, submitted verbal and written testimony, and worked in local coalitions to help their states leverage the federal funding available to them for green banks.

Reducing emissions

At Climate Reality, we believe there’s a better future ahead, powered by clean energy.

What gives us this belief isn’t just expert projections or the plunging prices of renewables. It’s the climate activists in countries everywhere creating the conditions for an end to fossil fuels, whether pushing for stronger national climate policies or supporting local communities in the transition to clean energy.

In 2023, Climate Reality Leaders spread the word about new electrification incentives in the US, and organized Ohio River Valley communities to fight the growing network of petrochemical facilities poisoning their families. They worked with elected officials in Colombia and Canada to develop strong regional climate plans, implemented youth-led community solutions to the climate crisis, and so much more.

All around the world, our network worked to slash emissions and accelerate the transition to clean energy.

By the numbers:
REDUCING EMISSIONS
23
petrochemical and fossil projects organized against
3
US states where we helped secure climate laws

Impact stories

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Calling out Greenwashing

With temperatures rising and the window for action closing, the world desperately needs clarity and consensus on the path forward to a clean energy future. Not half-truths and obfuscation from the companies that got us here.

At Climate Reality, we use digital storytelling, targeted trainings, and media events to call out the industry greenwashing misleading the public on the rapid energy transition we need to survive.

Our goal is to help audiences see through the industry's empty promises and highlight expansion plans sure to blow past planetary limits and increase emissions at a time we can least afford it.

We aim to create a culture with no tolerance for greenwashing or delay and a public insistent on concrete steps forward from our leaders.

Impact stories

Speaking Truth to Power at TED →
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Speaking Truth to Power at TED

Few voices have the power to fundamentally change the conversation on climate like former Vice President Al Gore.

So when TED presented him with the opportunity to explore the fossil fuel industry’s moves to position itself as a partner in the climate fight at its 2023 conference, he took it.

The resulting talk, “What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know,” offers a powerful, point-by-point takedown of industry deception and greenwashing that has already received over 740,000 views and helped ignite a global conversation around industry greenwashing.

WATCH
al gore on stage giving a ted talk
What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn't Want You To Know | Al Gore | TED (youtube.com)
al gore presents news headlines calling out fossil fuel lies
Calling Out the Fossil Fuel Industry at COP 28 →
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Calling Out the Fossil Fuel Industry at COP 28

The fossil fuel presence at UN COP climate conferences has been growing for years, as the industry works to slow-walk the transition to clean energy and undercut ambitious cooperation.

Nothing made these efforts clearer than the appointment of an industry executive, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the UAE’s national oil company, to serve as COP 28 president in 2023.

With groups around the world, we spoke up quickly to protest the staggering conflict of interest. When members of Congress sent President Biden a letter urging him to seek a new COP president, thousands of our supporters joined the effort and took action to pressure the White House.

While Al Jaber resisted calls to step aside, we continued to call out the conflict month after month, ensuring audiences everywhere understood what was at stake and how the industry is working to fight progress.

This effort continued at COP 28 itself, where our partner Global Witness reported that 2,450-plus individuals associated with the fossil fuel industry were set to attend, collectively representing companies planning to produce 25 billion barrels of oil this decade.

Looking to visualize the attempted industry takeover, we produced and distributed thousands of pins declaring “Not a Fossil Fuel Lobbyist” to COP 28 attendees, making clear what was happening behind the smiles and green buzzwords.

For global audiences unable to be there, we also used our 24 Hours of Reality: On the Ground at COP 28 to highlight the industry presence and effort at the highest level.

WATCH
not a fossil fuel lobbyist sign
NOT a Fossil Fuel Lobbyist
al gore presenting news headlines calling out fossil fuel companies on their lies
The Heavy Footprint of Oil and Gas at COP
beyond oil and gas alliance signs
Oil and Gas Fueling Disinformation

Thank You

On behalf of former Vice President Al Gore and everyone at Climate Reality, we are grateful for the generous individuals and organizations who have offered their time and resources in support of our work.

To our Climate Reality Leaders and the numerous volunteers across our global branches, US chapters, and larger digital network who are carrying out this important work: Thank you. Your dedication to building a better future together made the victories in this report possible.

We also express our sincere thanks to our generous donors, whose support enables us to effectively expand the climate movement and mobilize our network to achieve true net zero.

Our goals are ambitious. Yet the urgency of this moment calls for nothing short of maximum effort and a full commitment to what we know to be effective. Thank you for everything you do for our planet.

2023 FINANCIALS

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