I find your estimate of Sunrise’s cost-effectiveness of $0.22 per mtCO2e extremely implausible. Sunrise and its chapters have opposed essentially all of the most important policies for reducing emissions:
Thanks for your comment. We don’t currently recommend the Sunrise Movement (see prior post) but plan on evaluating them again this year.
The decentralized nature of Sunrise has led to a lot of misunderstandings about its position on certain issues. Sunrise’s local hubs can autonomously make policy statements, but these don’t reflect the position of the central movement. In most cases, publicized opposition to certain technologies or policies has come from specific local hubs and doesn’t reflect Sunrise’s official stance on the issues.
While the national organization has expressed opposition to carbon capture and carbon pricing in the past, their actions and other statements from staff reveal a more nuanced approach. We have not yet seen evidence that Sunrise meaningfully engages in opposition to the policies you name; e.g., it supported the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, inclusive of nuclear and carbon capture investments. Members of Sunrise leadership have opposed the closing of existing nuclear power plants and have expressed a need for carbon capture under some circumstances, such as hard-to-decarbonize industries.
Decentralization is a choice that donors should consider. Sunrise funds empower local chapters that advocate counterproductive climate policies. Their choice also not to actively support critical policies like carbon pricing is also relevant, especially given studies showing that emphasizing less-effective climate policies reduces interest in more effective ones.
If they were the only grassroots climate org and they generated interest in broad climate action, it might be worth the trade-off. But interest in climate is strong and other organizations like Citizens’ Climate Lobby advocate proven solutions (and are much more funding-constrained than Sunrise, even when Sunrise was smaller).
I find your estimate of Sunrise’s cost-effectiveness of $0.22 per mtCO2e extremely implausible. Sunrise and its chapters have opposed essentially all of the most important policies for reducing emissions:
Carbon pricing
Nuclear power
Dense infill housing
Carbon capture
Your Sunrise deep dive does not discuss any of these issues.
Hi Max,
Thanks for your comment. We don’t currently recommend the Sunrise Movement (see prior post) but plan on evaluating them again this year.
The decentralized nature of Sunrise has led to a lot of misunderstandings about its position on certain issues. Sunrise’s local hubs can autonomously make policy statements, but these don’t reflect the position of the central movement. In most cases, publicized opposition to certain technologies or policies has come from specific local hubs and doesn’t reflect Sunrise’s official stance on the issues.
While the national organization has expressed opposition to carbon capture and carbon pricing in the past, their actions and other statements from staff reveal a more nuanced approach. We have not yet seen evidence that Sunrise meaningfully engages in opposition to the policies you name; e.g., it supported the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, inclusive of nuclear and carbon capture investments. Members of Sunrise leadership have opposed the closing of existing nuclear power plants and have expressed a need for carbon capture under some circumstances, such as hard-to-decarbonize industries.
Decentralization is a choice that donors should consider. Sunrise funds empower local chapters that advocate counterproductive climate policies. Their choice also not to actively support critical policies like carbon pricing is also relevant, especially given studies showing that emphasizing less-effective climate policies reduces interest in more effective ones.
If they were the only grassroots climate org and they generated interest in broad climate action, it might be worth the trade-off. But interest in climate is strong and other organizations like Citizens’ Climate Lobby advocate proven solutions (and are much more funding-constrained than Sunrise, even when Sunrise was smaller).