Resource Type: Research & Articles

Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) and the Climate Advocacy Lab fielded a statewide survey of Vermonters about attitudes towards their state’s Climate Superfund Act. We found that a majority of respondents agreed with the intention behind the law of holding fossil fuel companies financially accountable for climate damages incurred by the state. However, none of the messaging approaches we attempted seem very effective in increasing support for the policy. Qualitative responses suggest that the Act is not well-known and, while respondents favor corporate accountability, they also have concerns about the policy’s legality and government transparency. Notably, even among some of those who responded that they agree with the Climate Superfund, there was confusion about how fossil fuel companies contribute to climate-related impacts like flooding, suggesting the need for greater popular education around the chain of attribution. Distrust of government also surfaced as a concern about the Act.

From the latest on perennial topics such as engaging rural audiences, to new frontier insights on building support for climate superfunds or for battery storage, join the Climate Advocacy Lab and our research partners on the ground across the country for an hour packed with presentations on our latest research. Presentations include projects in collaboration with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (message test among Six Americas audience segments, especially among Asian & Latino populations), Evangelical Environmental Network (testing testimonial videos), Water Hub (disaster resilience opinions), Vermont Public Interest Research Group (Climate Superfund Act attitudes), Alliance for Climate Transition (maintaining support for battery energy storage systems), and Resource Rural (persuasive message framing and rural narrative analysis).

Join us for our final Clean Energy Deep Dive of the year, featuring Clean Virginia, a group on the frontlines of the clean energy fight.

May marked the ten year anniversary of the Climate Advocacy Lab. True to form of our nerdiness, today we’re releasing one of the most substantive pieces of work to date, our Ten-Year Impact Report, written by my former Co-Director Carina Barnett-Loro.

In this week’s edition of our Lab newsletter, I want to take a moment to reflect on the power of community – what it really means to show up, connect, and build together. I was honored to have attended so many transformative events in 2025, from RootsCamp to Netroots. Below are some takeaways from these spaces that can be implemented for successful community-building, both in advocacy and in your personal life, as well as a list of upcoming conferences to keep an eye on.

This tipsheet synthesizes information from the webinar Mastering Facilitation: Transforming Tensions and Conflict Management.

Views on grid-connected battery energy storage systems (BESS) are positive, but awareness is low: people are at an early stage of learning (and likely thinking) about this emerging technology, and over time opinions could potentially be swayed either way. Results from a national survey and a message test indicate no major opposition to BESS, and support is high after being informed about basic information, though there are some concerns about risks. When asked, people rate grid reliability as the most convincing reason for BESS, followed by its ability to support intermittent renewable energy; BESS’s positive impacts on local economies and lowering utility bills were also convincing. In testing, both high production value videos featuring testimonials from renewable energy workers as well as simpler graphic explainer videos were persuasive.