Our Fight for Climate Justice
By Fiona McLeod and Hillary Moglen
You may have seen that recently, some other communications and PR firms have been getting called out for publicly expressing strong support for climate action and the environment while taking money from fossil fuel companies behind the scenes.
At RALLY, we know that working with polluters can only accelerate the climate crisis, no matter how you dress it up. That’s why we don’t work with fossil fuel companies, front groups, or other organizations that are invested in big oil — we never have and never will. In fact, RALLY has taken the Clean Creatives pledge to show that commitment, joining a coalition of like-minded agencies and strategists dedicated to climate justice.
We also know that true climate advocacy goes beyond just refusing to work with fossil fuel-related companies and resisting corporate greenwashing. Here are some of the ways we are actively working to address climate change at RALLY, by taking part in many of the key fights that will determine the future of our planet:
WE’RE HELPING ELECTRIFY EVERYTHING IN CALIFORNIA AND BEYOND
By supporting Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign, we’re helping to build a world in which every community’s right to clean air and a livable climate future is realized and respected. Alongside environmental justice partners, Right To Zero is working to ensure California leads the shift towards a zero-emission future by putting electric vehicles on our streets and electric appliances in our buildings — all powered by a 100 percent clean electricity grid.
Through our work with C40 Cities, we helped launch the first Electric Car Equity Week in June 2021, to highlight the public and personal health benefits of driving electric cars. By collaborating with Mayors and city transportation departments and other environmental advocacy partners, we’re working to make access to electric cars equitable for all. Now, we’re working together to change how we talk about zero emissions zones to help cities around the world shift urban mobility choices toward climate-friendly options.
WE’RE PUSHING BUSINESSES AND LEGISLATORS TO BREAK UP WITH FOSSIL FUELS
Ships moving 90% of goods burn the world’s dirtiest fossil fuels and emit 1 billion metric tons of climate pollution a year. Together with Pacific Environment and Stand.earth, RALLY created and launched Ship It Zero, a consumer-driven climate and public health campaign focused initially on moving Amazon, IKEA, Target, and Walmart to “stop shipping dirty.” By October 2021, two of the four initial corporate targets (Amazon and IKEA) committed to zero emission shipping by 2040.
The vast majority of Californians support moving toward a clean energy future — in fact, 70% want the electricity grid to run on 100% renewable energy by 2035. But oil and gas executives and lobbyists have rigged the system in state government to slow progress on meaningful (and life-saving) climate action. RALLY helped coordinate and launch the CA Climate Accountability Project: a coalition of environmental organizations working to hold the oil and gas industry accountable, and to put pressure on state legislators to ensure California lives up to its reputation as a leader in climate solutions.
WE ADVOCATE FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND USE PRACTICES AND CONSERVATION
The Resilient Forests Campaign increased public support for prescribed burning and pressured California elected officials to fund better fire management policies. RALLY’s work helped raise the coalition’s profile as issue experts and influencers in Sacramento and drove state leaders to approve $500 million emergency wildfire funding — far surpassing previous allocations.
Within the United States, about a football field worth of natural area is lost to development every 30 seconds. RALLY helped launch the Center for Western Priorities (CWP), a nonpartisan conservation and advocacy organization which promotes responsible conservation and energy practices as essential to solving this environmental crisis. RALLY supports CWP in driving an earned media and policy narrative around the responsible use of public lands in the Mountain West, promoting responsible policies and practices and ensuring accountability at all levels to protect land, water, and communities in the American West.
RALLY began working with Resource Legacy Fund and a coalition of regional partners in November 2021 to launch the Power in Nature campaign in support of California 30x30, a community-driven initiative to protect 30% of California’s land and coastal water by 2030. Informed and driven by local community-based organizations, Tribes, coalitions, and scientists from around the world, Power in Nature is spreading awareness about the importance of conserving our lands and waters, and protecting the beauty and biodiversity of California’s unique natural places.
Whether we’re making new progress or fighting to protect the gains we’ve already made, we’re proud of our work as environmental advocates. And we’re constantly looking out for opportunities to expand into new issue spaces in the vanguard of the environmental movement — from tackling global methane emissions and removing carbon from oceans, to elevating indigenous voices leading on climate justice and partnering with corporations to take action to minimize their climate impacts and use their platforms to advance progress.
Our team is committed to continue leveraging our expertise as advocates and communicators to achieve the progress we want to see in the world. To us, that means driving collective action on environmental issues, intervening in the status quo that the oil and gas industry and its allies are fighting to uphold, and fighting for climate justice every step of the way.
RALLY IS AN ADVOCACY AGENCY | Certified force for good by B Corporation.
WE WERE BUILT TO INFLUENCE THE FUTURE. Since our beginning, RALLY has been singularly focused on advocacy. Our entire business model — from our craft to our culture to the clients we partner with — is designed to drive progress around complex political, cultural, and social challenges. No matter the issue, we believe there’s always a unique path forward. It’s just a matter of finding it or creating it. Learn more at wearerally.com.
