Fall 2025 Climate Justice Programming & Commitments
Settle in with a beverage, as this is a long update!
I’m sharing information about the UU Climate Justice Working Group, our fall Green Sanctuary programming schedule, and curated resources and events for our shared climate justice ministry.
You can find this update on the Side With Love blog if you want to come back to it again or share with your congregation. – Rachel
Rachel Myslivy
UUA Climate Justice Strategist
Introducing the UU Climate Justice Working Group
At General Assembly, the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt celebrated the work of the UU Climate Justice Working Group, which was established to identify where our faith calls us to lead beyond narrowly defined “net zero” goals towards equitable decarbonization, community resilience, and a just transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy future. The Working Group celebrates and builds upon the existing UUA commitments to climate justice in the Draft Commitments, briefly outlined below.
Culture
The Draft Commitments recommend that the UUA strategize and support a culture shift from historical environmentalism to intersectional Climate Justice aligned with Green Sanctuary 2030’s Four Essentials of Climate Justice: Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, Justice, and Mitigation.
Resources
The Working Group recommends advancing real zero-aligned investment policies, resource strategies, and ongoing collaborations through community investments, transparency in reporting, and supports for UUs and our congregations to align our finances with our values.
Next Moves
The Working Group will continue to bring our UU organizations and leaders together in collaboration with our UUA Staff and Board to strategize, sequence, and implement the best ways to turn these draft commitments into bold climate justice actions that we can undertake together as a faith. In the spirit of the UU Climate Justice Revival, we invite all UUs to reimagine together how we do this critical work with love at the center. Sign up to learn more at the September 17 Green Sanctuary Community Meeting. For more info, go to UUA.org/ClimateJustice or email climatejustice@uua.org.
Draft Commitments, Green Sanctuary, and YOU!
The announcement of the UU Climate Justice Working Group and the Draft Commitments comes at a perfect time. Our Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice process and materials have been completely revitalized to better support our congregations. The Draft Commitments are aligned with our Four Essentials for Climate Action that Green Sanctuary Teams organize around to advance balanced climate actions that are responsive to the needs of our communities. Now the best time to renew your congregation’s commitments to climate justice through the Green Sanctuary 2030 process.
Green Sanctuary 2030 encourages ongoing, incremental change over time instead of monumental projects that tend to burn out our teams. Congregations receive yearly recognition for their actions on the Four Essentials. If you can’t do everything, you can still be recognized for the work you have done on specific Essentials. Even better, much of the work your congregation is already doing can count towards recognition.
In August, every US-based congregation will receive a poster to track your Green Sanctuary 2030 actions from 2025-2029.
When you launch or complete climate actions, you will receive a sticker for the Essential that has been fulfilled. It’s a great way to celebrate your climate justice ministries and empower your congregation to commit to bold climate actions. With just one requirement for yearly recognition, there has never been a better time to renew your congregation’s commitment to climate justice!
Watch for your Green Sanctuary 2030 poster in the coming months! (And let the staff/volunteers who process mail for your congregation know to expect it!)
Green Sanctuary 2030 Meetings
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice provides a flexible, manageable, and impactful process to support UUs in transforming their congregations through climate justice.
The Green Sanctuary 2030 community is here to support your congregation’s climate ministry. Join our monthly Orientations on the first Wednesday of each month and our Community Meetings on the third Wednesday of the month, both take place at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET. Come together for shared learning and mutual supports for UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice!
The fall schedule includes:
August 20: Creating A Hub of Community Resilience in Clemson, South Carolina
Turning our congregations into Hubs of Community Resilience is an opportunity to steward our resources for the good of our broader community. Learn how the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson is exploring the possibilities of installing solar with battery backup to turn their congregation into a Hub of Community Resilience when the power goes out, as recently happened with hurricane Helene.
September 17: UUA Strategies to Advance Climate Justice
President Sofía’s UU Climate Justice Working Group was established to identify where our faith calls us to lead, beyond narrowly defined “net zero” goals towards equitable decarbonization, community resilience, and a just transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy future. Join Mathew Jensen, UUA Senior Investment Officer, and Rachel Myslivy, UUA Climate Justice Strategist, to learn about the Working Group’s Draft Commitments for Culture and Resources.
October 15: Claiming Our Power to Fight for a Clean Energy Future
Advocating at Public Utility Commissions is an incredibly impactful way to shape our energy future. It's also a hugely overlooked opportunity! Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) regulate utility prices, resource planning and acquisition, reliability and quality of service regulation. If you’re not sure what that all means, you’re not alone! Advocating for fair utility regulations can be intimidating to outsiders, which benefits those who are more concerned with profit than people. PUCs wield significant power and their decisions affect clean energy and air quality, impacting both greenhouse gas mitigation and climate resilience. Learn how the UU Georgia Legislative Action Network is making good trouble for climate justice as they remind the Georgia Utility Commissioners and Elected Officials that people have the power to choose a just and moral path for our energy future.
November 19: Carbon Neutral by 2050
The Boise UU Fellowship has committed to become Carbon Neutral by 2050 as part of their Green Sanctuary 2030 commitments. Engaging the entire congregation in a 2023 special appeal “Imagining A Carbon Neutral World,” BUUF launched their carbon neutral campaign which will focus on reducing the BUUF carbon footprint and supporting members to reduce their individual emissions while also building strong relations with community groups doing mitigation work.
Phew, that was a long update! Stick with me for just a few other important reports!
From our Campaign Partners
The world’s 65 biggest banks committed 😱 $7,900,000,000,000 😱 over 9 years to the fossil fuel industry, driving climate chaos & deadly health impacts. Check out the new Banking on Climate Chaos report for Frontline Stories, Data Overview, Bank & Client Profiles, and ways to Take Action!
Keeping Everyone's Lights On: How to Build an Equitable, Climate-Resilient Power Grid
The Union of Concerned Scientists outline the impacts of climate change on power grids, how power outages exacerbate energy inequity, the ways Current planning efforts fall short and how inclusive planning for climate impacts is the way forward.
Energy Equity State Factsheets
The Energy Equity Project recently released their brand new fact sheets which provide a broad overview of the energy landscape in each state, with facts about unaffordability, rate increases, pathways to affordability, and shutoffs.
Decades of Deceit: The Case Against Major Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate Fraud and Damages
The Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a report that draws on dozens of internal fossil fuel industry documents to provide a decades-long review of what fossil fuel companies knew about climate change and the extreme steps they took to deceive the public to protect their profits at the expense of people and the planet. Decades of Deceit ends with a call to action for elected officials, investors, financiers, experts, and the public to increase pressure on the fossil fuel industry to meet updated and strengthened campaign demands for corporate climate accountability.
Defending and Advancing Climate Justice Policies
The Just Solutions Collective published this comprehensive and deep analysis by state and national policy experts of potential threats to environmental and climate justice under the second Trump Administration as well as pathways for action.
