Climate Policy Advocacy: Working Toward Collective Action in the PNW

Interested in policy but don't know where to start? This series teaches businesses in OR & WA some advocacy basics and how to get involved!
About this Event

Join B Local PDX, Oregon Business for Climate and Clean and Prosperous Washington for the 3rd in a 4-part series of workshops on policy advocacy.

Session 3 brings us closer to actual bills, regulations and rulemaking priorities for the 2025 legislative sessions in Oregon and Washington. We'll discuss the leading voices for and against each of them and consider which may present relevant opportunities for attendee or B Corp community engagement.

If you'd like to watch or revisit the our last session, from Oct 31 2024, you can see the recording here.

Program Overview

Policy Advocacy 101 is designed to satisfy the Collective Action requirement in B Lab's upcoming revised standards. The series will:

Provide context on the importance of policy/advocacy engagement (the WHY) by B Corps and purpose driven businesses on a range of issues, as well as the opposition we face and recent successes through collective action.
Cover the process + typical engagement points (the WHAT) for businesses to weigh in to advance progress on key issues – in both the legislative and regulatory (agencies, commissions) settings, focused on the state level.
Show examples of the approaches and tools useful in these venues (the HOW). Examples will focus on recent work supporting climate-related policies in Oregon and Washington (clean electric grid, building energy efficiency, clean fuels, reducing natural gas emissions, clean cars and trucks, renewable energy, cap and invest program, etc.). This education will cover tools including direct engagement (meetings, testimony), sign-on letters, op-eds, and other approaches.
Sign up interested businesses (the WHO and WHEN) for additional sessions and a closing event that sets them up to engage in Oregon and Washington’s 2025 legislative sessions.

Sessions

o Session 1: Business and Policy Engagement 101

o Session 2: Recap of 101; discussion of policy interest areas of participating businesses; preview of policies likely to show up in the 2025 session

o Session 3: Actual business- and climate-related policies expected in the legislature; overview of advocacy organizations working on each, legislators leading the efforts, and likely opposition.

o Session 4: Education, talking points, sign-ups and/or specific pointers for business leaders’ participation to advance priority policies. (This may also include opportunities for regulatory/agency-level engagement.)

Who is Invited?

Anyone! This program is designed with Certified B Corps in mind but is applicable to all purpose driven businesses that want to grow their impact and advocate for policy that benefits the climate.

Admission is free for all, but donations are welcome to support the work of B Local PDX, Oregon Business for Climate, and Clean and Prosperous Washington.

Facilitators

Tim Miller is the Director of Oregon Business for Climate, where he brings the voice of forward-looking businesses to advance equitable, aggressive climate action in Oregon. Previously, Miller served as the CEO of Enhabit, a non-profit that helped over 6,000 families improve the energy efficiency and health of their homes, and as a strategic consultant for over 30 non-profits, agencies, and clean-tech companies, advancing sustainability and climate solutions. Tim also serves on the Board (formerly as Board Chair) of Climate Solutions, the Northwest’s leading equitable climate policy and advocacy organization, and on the Board of Forth, a leading equity-focused transportation electrification organization. He earned his MBA and BA in economics from Stanford University.

Sarah Severn is principal of Sarah Severn Consulting. Sarah spent over two decades in senior sustainability roles at Nike where she led the adoption of sustainability into Nike’s operations, product design process and manufacturing supply chain. She initiated Nike’s climate change work in the mid 90’s and catalyzed the formation of BICEP, (Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy) in 2008. Since retiring from Nike in 2014, Sarah has focused on the intersection of business advocacy and climate policy.