When Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, Corporate Accountability International knew we had to mobilize quickly to counter his climate-change-denying, pro-corporate, racist, sexist, and xenophobic agenda.
With only weeks before Trump took office, we launched an initiative to call on President Obama to take an irreversible action for climate justice. The U.S. had an outstanding commitment of $2.5 billion to the Green Climate Fund. This fund supports communities in the Global South who are dealing with the disastrous effects of climate change — and who have done the least to cause it. If Obama paid into the fund before he left office, Trump wouldn’t be able to touch it.
People around the country responded with enthusiasm and determination: Nearly 100,000 people and more than 100 organizations took action. They signed petitions, mobilized their networks, and leveraged their connections. Media coverage in Mother Jones, and AlterNet reached wide audiences.
And it worked! In his last few days as president, Obama released $500 million to the Green Climate Fund. As a result, more money is available for governments in the Global South to protect the lives and livelihoods of people from climate change and transition more quickly to sustainable energy sources.
