The Energy Action Coalition is a non-profit organisation made up of 50 partner organizations in the U.S. and Canada that runs campaigns to build the youth and student clean energy movement and advocate for tangible changes on local, state, national and international levels in North America. Energy Action focuses its campaigns on campuses, communities, corporate practices, and politics. It is part of the Global Youth Climate Movement.
The Energy Action Coalition was founded in June 2004 at a meeting of representatives from almost 20 environmental groups in Washington, D.C. The founding of Energy Action was a result of the coordination of many local and national environmental networks in a day of action on April 1, 2004 called Fossil Fools Day which advocated for reducing dependence for energy on fossil fuels with more than 125 registered actions.
The partners of Energy Action work together to leverage our collective power and create change for a clean, efficient, just and renewable energy future. The work of Energy Action is focused on four strategic areas: campuses, communities, corporate practices, and politics.
Energy Action's flagship campaign, the Campus Climate Challenge, was launched in 2006 to spur a new wave of investment in renewable energy on college campuses from coast to coast. The Campaign spread like wildfire and Climate Challenge is now being run on over 700 colleges and universities across the country, and more than 550 of those campuses have made institutional commitments to become carbon neutral.
Energy Action held a second national youth climate summit, Power Shift 2009 which took place February 27 through March 2, 2009 in Washington, D.C. The event drew over 12,000 student and youth climate activists, representing all 50 U.S. states, all Canadian provinces, and 13 other nations including Brazil, Austria, the United Kingdom. The goal of the conference was to "push the Obama administration and Congress to pass 'bold, comprehensive, and just national climate legislation before entering international climate negotiations in December 2009.
