03/15/2024

Associations and Climate Change

The time for action is now

To quote from ASAE’s well-attended May 2023 webinar, Associations' Role in Climate Change: The UN Climate Conference, COP27 & Beyond: "Either as part of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives or looking at impact and legacy, associations are increasingly grappling with the role sustainability plays in supporting their work and advancing their missions." 

Climate change is real. It’s happening. It’s caused by human action, and it’s accelerating. However, taking action presents a challenge for a variety of reasons. The problem is so overwhelming that it can be hard to know where to start. Humans have some built-in cognitive biases that make it hard for us to even think clearly about existential risk and complex change—and climate change is both.

Many of the solutions that are presented to us are either very large-scale (e.g., the annual U.N. COP meetings, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement) or are narrowly focused on consumer choices (like upgrading to an electric car, installing solar panels, eating less meat). The majority of human life, including being part of an association, takes place somewhere in between those two extremes.

Please select this link to read the complete article from ASAE’s Center for Association Leadership.