THEME

Climate

Rotary is uniquely placed to empower local communities around the world
to implement Climate Solutions that help reverse global warming.
If one Rotary International President could inspire millions
of trees to be planted, imagine the opportunities that await.

WHAT IS IT?

Climate at ESRAG

How do Climate Solutions benefit humanity?

The impacts of climate change threaten human civilization and planetary health, but it is not too late to act. Many of the measures to limit global warming to 1.5º C will also protect human health, enhance food security, reduce a major driver of mass migration, and ensure the availability of safe water. In short: climate action protects all of Rotary’s other humanitarian investments. Climate solutions make communities more resilient to catastrophic storms, forest loss, drought, heat, and sea-level rise.

CLIMATE

Learn more

The Path to a Sustainable Rotary – The Climate Solutions Taskforce

The Path to a Sustainable Rotary – The Climate Solutions Taskforce

By: Michael Koch ESRAG has an ambitious goal: help Rotarians reach net zero emissions by 2040. To drive this initiative forward, the Climate Solutions Taskforce was established, empowering Rotarians worldwide to implement climate solutions and create measurable...

Project Drawdown’s Tools for Climate Action in 2025

Project Drawdown’s Tools for Climate Action in 2025

By Ariel Miller From our earliest years, ESRAG's leaders have recommended Project Drawdown to our members as a powerful resource for evidence-based climate solutions. On Dec. 16, Drawdown's Executive Director Jonathan Foley, PhD, shared the strategy this leading...

Take Action for Climate

Rotary’s global distributed network of community leaders
can implement solutions to slow the worst of the impacts.
ESRAG is here to help with solutions.

Climate Solutions

Drawdown is the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere stop climbing and start to…

Conserving Glacial Resources

Implementing and evaluating management techniques to slow down melting and conserving the meltwater

Every Club Climate Friendly

Become a climate friendly and carbon neutral club before 2030.

CLIMATE IMPACT

Resources

Rotary’s vision, mission, and seven areas of focus
strongly support our individual and collective
work to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts.

 

Resources

Rotarians understand that the whole world is their backyard. They can see the effects of climate change in communities they care about, and they haven’t waited to take action. They’re tackling the problem the way they always do: coming up with projects, using their connections to change policy — and planning for the future.” – ROTARY.ORG

Learn more about Rotary and Climate 

Resources on climate change and practical solutions

Project Drawdown, with which ESRAG has an MOU, offers a curated menu of available climate solutions with metrics as to relative effectiveness and cost. ESRAG has Taskforces to help you implement many of the Drawdown solutions.

Rotary Climate Action Network, offers an array of excellent recorded talks to share with your Club, practical advice on forming a climate action team, and actions you can take on the climate crisis.

Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), a non-partisan group founded by a Rotarian, equips people to engage their elected officials in support of pricing carbon pollution, one of the most effective ways to bring down carbon emissions.

Global Footprint App, helps you calculate your impact on carbon emissions and planetary systems. It offers country-specific data which nations are starting to use to analyze their consumption and make changes that will restore us to living within our planetary means.

EnRoads, developed by MIT scientists, simulates the interaction of various combinations of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This simulator is a wonderful way to engage your community in exploring and choosing solutions.

Many universities maintain comprehensive science-informed information centers about climate. Examples include Yale’s Climate Connections,  & University Madison, Wisconsin’s Initiative on Climate Change Impacts.
Explore what your local university has to offer.

Understand your audience so that you can speak persuasively about climate change.

Learn how to prevent spiraling, irreversible, climate feedback loops caused by forest loss, wildfires, melting ice, and thawing tundra that will intensify and accelerate the climate crisis.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the UN Agency that supports all efforts to protect the environment worldwide. https://www.unep.org ESRAG and UNEP co-authored the World Environment Day Handbook of project inspirations, in English and in Spanish.

UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change manages the development of national plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep warming to 1.5ºC, manages the scientific work of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) which informs mitigation and adaptation strategies, and hosts the annual Climate talks in which Rotary now participates.

Measure and track the sustainability and impact of your long-term climate solutions through project reporting using ESRAG’s iRotree App.

Climate 101

Together we can help the world reach “Drawdown”— the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping catastrophic climate change — as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.

Climate Science

Rotary’s vision, mission, and seven areas of focus strongly support our individual and collective work to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts. For example, educating girls is both a top climate solution and essential to Rotary’s focus on Basic Education and Literacy. Giving women and families access to family planning aligns with Rotary’s focus on Child and Maternal Health. Providing clean energy like wind and solar to low-income and developing communities improves health and economic development by making it possible to purify water, cook, refrigerate food and vaccines, study, communicate, and provide basic medical care. Farming practices like silvo-pasture, restorative agriculture, intercropping, and managed grazing not only pull pollution out of the air, but also create rich soil that is more resilient in extreme weather. Eating a plant-rich diet improves our health while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. 

Learn more about: Climate Science

CLIMATE

Featured Events

ESRAG Seminar: ESRAG project prize winners
Speaker: moderated by Caroline Dewitt, ESRAG Board of Directors

More info

Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

More info

Oceania Meeting
Speaker: Dr Barry Traill AM - Dingoes
Topic: Dr Barry Traill, AM Dingoes - pest or valued part of the environment.

More info

Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

More info

ESRAG Seminar: Advanced transportation
Speaker: Corey Hull
Topic: Advanced transportation that is safer, cleaner and more efficient and productive

More info

Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

More info

Plastic Café
Speaker: ESRAG's Plastics Solutions Task Force
Topic: People gather from around the world to connect, learn, and explore collective wisdom.

More info

ESRAG Seminar: Expanding plant-rich eating in a community
Speaker: Nicola Philpott and Anna Larsson
Topic: plant-rich diet, food systems

More info

Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

More info

ESRAG Seminar: Trees That Feed Foundation
Speaker: Mary McLaughlin
Topic: Feeding People, Creating Jobs and Benefiting the Environment

More info

Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

More info