Purpose Climate Lab
Taking a justice-focused approach to climate campaigning.
We partner with diverse global funders to deliver innovative, evidence-based strategies and campaigns that accelerate ambition and adoption of climate-supportive behaviors and policies worldwide.
Overview
16 policy commitments secured.
300+ public officials engaged & 2500+ new campaigners activated.
1000+ partners connected & 550+ media publications earned.
Challenge
Without prioritizing climate justice, any response to the climate emergency will fall short. The problem is that key public members in political, socio-economic and cultural positions of power are not being effectively mobilized to demand more ambitious climate action. There’s a lack of coordinated communication, campaigning capacity and networking among local organizations, grassroots leaders and change agents.
Strategy
The pathway to climate action is through civic power: building inclusive, people-led movements, especially in global majority countries.
The Purpose Climate Lab works to achieve this by:
• Giving power to marginalized and minoritized communities and leaders in decision making and the climate movement as a whole, opening space for new solutions to emerge
• Holding accountable the ones primarily responsible for and benefiting from the climate crisis by assigning them the costs of climate mitigation, adaptation, as well as loss and damage
• Working in the intersections of climate and health, food and gender, bringing these lenses to the forefront of the public agenda
• Building resilience of communities that are disproportionately impacted by fossil fuel extraction, climate change effects and disinformation
Campaign
Our innovative strategies and campaigns address a range of climate issue areas, including but not limited to low-carbon mobility, just transition and the intersection of climate and health. We look to amplify and mobilize most-impacted audiences, and we emphasize approaches like seeding new narratives, building capacity and convening people and organizations both on- and offline.
Creative
The Purpose Climate Lab drives global climate action through strategic storytelling and impactful design. It uses visually compelling content and data-driven insights to engage audiences, from policymakers to activists. By crafting relatable narratives and actionable campaigns, the lab simplifies complex climate issues. Partnering with communities ensures initiatives are inclusive, relevant, and scalable, amplifying their impact.
Impact
Purpose Climate Lab has operated for 9 years across 12 countries and regions through a tightly connected group of global thinkers and local experts. Our distinctive approach has allowed us to:
• Build an equitable more diverse climate movement
• Center our work around those most impacted by climate change
• Strengthen the influence of the climate ecosystem
• Prompt action by people, business and government
• Shift narratives on climate and fight climate disinformation
• Deliberately experiment with hypothesis-led, evidence-based campaigning
“The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived. The air is unbreathable. The heat is unbearable. And the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable.”
António Guterrres
United Nations Secretary General
“We have a strong network of partners that help us with professional support, training and even in [the] legal [area]. We now intend to improve our engagement with other collectives, mainly [those composed of] youth and women.”
Member of an organization
PCL’s Innovation and Acceleration in the Amazon Region (IARA) program
“The [Niko Active climate x health] toolkit is a brilliant document and helpful for climate conversations.”
Harriet Chiggai
President’s Gender and Women’s Rights Advisor, Kenya
“We never knew we could do something like this. Now that we know what to do, we will give these kinds of ideas to our friends living in other communities, so that they can also raise their voices like we are doing.”
Rosalin
community member and participant in PCL’s Alli Serona initiative in Bangalore, India
