HOUSTON, March 7, 2022—Climate protection donors from across the political spectrum are set to announce at CERA this week a new voter education campaign to unite the middle 70% of Americans behind practical and effective climate solutions. CERAWeek brings together global leaders to advance new ideas, insight and solutions to the biggest challenges facing the future of energy, the environment, and climate. 

The Climate of Unity campaign aims to depolarize the battle over climate protection, by recruiting five million center-to-right citizens for practical, effective solutions that a bipartisan 70% of voters can support. 

The nonpartisan campaign will center on ideologically divided states and districts. No candidates will be endorsed. Both Republicans and Democrats will be asked to join. Citizen outreach will be broadly centrist, with an emphasis on recruiting the center-right. The outreach will build upon the results from America in One Room, the largest deliberative poll in U.S. history, which showed the “U.S. converging across states, political parties, age, and income in support of action to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and that Americans would be able to achieve greater consensus on climate and energy policies if they had access to accurate information and an opportunity to discuss and weigh competing positions.” 

“This is a strategic shift for environmental donors and advocates,” said Bill Shireman, co-chairman with Trammell S. Crow of the Bridge Foundation for Free Speech and Civil Discourse, which leads the campaign. “The us-versus-them narrative has been recycled for 50 years. Today it just fuels polarization, division, and gridlock.” 

“Most Americans want to take action, but are trapped inside either denial on the far right or panic on the far left,” said Crow. “We are building a bridge to unite the center-left and center-right to form a bipartisan supermajority for real climate solutions.” 

Crow and Shireman will appear at CERAWEEK on Tuesday, March 8, at 10 a.m. CST to share details and hear feedback.