Nonprofit Spotlight: Clean Air Task Force

Giving

In August 2021, PennyLoafer donors collectively gave to Clean Air Task Force (CATF)!

The Rundown

Years founded: 1996
Leadership: Arnold Cohen has led CATF since its formation. He’s been awarded the prestigious Sam Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize for his dedication to “preserving the planet and its resources.” Read more about their team of experts.
Issue they address: getting to a zero-emissions, high-energy planet at an affordable cost.
What they do: Drive change through policy and innovation
How they do it:

High quality research on climate policy;
Clean air advocacy (at the state, federal and international level);
Promote innovation in neglected low-carbon technologies.

Why they were chosen

CATF is effective. They have a strong track record of achieving policy changes. They focus on realistic, scalable solutions to decarbonization. And their impressive team regularly contributes leading research to the field.

For more, read their 2020 Report or this endorsement from Founders Pledge, a leading charity evaluator.

Learning

"It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land” 😬

That’s the first line of the report summary released by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in August. In case you missed it:

The report is based on 14,000 studies and addresses “the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change”.
It’s the first major review of climate science since 2013.

And surprise-it was bleak. The report delivered a stark warning to humanity: we need to take action now, to avoid increasingly frequent and severe consequences of global warming. But it also left room for hope.

Piers Forster is a climate physicist at the University of Leeds and succinctly framed the report’s good and bad news in two tweets.
And this is a hopeful message from climate scientists.

The report came just two months before the next major climate conference summit (COP26) in Glasgow. World leaders will come together to accelerate action towards the goals established at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. And luckily, governments will be armed with this report.

If you enjoyed this and want to get involved, you can support the Climate Change cause on PennyLoafer, starting with as little as $5/month. Each month, you’ll support and learn about a different nonprofit fighting the climate crisis.