350.org

350.org is an international environmental organization focused on climate change, fossil-fuel resistance, renewable energy, and grassroots movement-building. Its name refers to 350 parts per million, the atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentration that the organization and its scientific advisers have presented as a broadly protective upper limit for avoiding dangerous climate-system disruption. Atmospheric carbon dioxide had already exceeded that level when the organization was established, making the number both a scientific reference point and a campaign symbol. The organization grew out of Bill McKibben's 2007 Step It Up campaign, which mobilized demonstrations at prominent locations across the United States and called for stronger climate policy. McKibben subsequently worked with students from Middlebury College to develop a permanent, internationally oriented organization. From 2008 onward, 350.org expanded its work through online organizing, volunteer training, public demonstrations, coalition campaigns, educational materials, and coordinated days of action. Rather than operating as a conventional consumer brand, it functions as a movement platform and advocacy network that helps local groups design and publicize campaigns. Its best-known areas of work include fossil-fuel divestment, opposition to new coal, oil, and gas infrastructure, support for renewable and community-owned energy, climate justice, and pressure on governments and financial institutions. The Fossil Free divestment campaign encouraged universities, cities, religious organizations, banks, pension funds, and other institutions to stop investing in fossil-fuel companies. 350.org has also participated in major pipeline campaigns, including opposition to Keystone XL and the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and has supported local restrictions on activities such as hydraulic fracturing. The organization has coordinated or helped coordinate highly visible international mobilizations, including the 2009 International Day of Climate Action, the 2010 Global Work Party, the 2012 Connect the Dots campaign, Global Power Shift in 2013, the People's Climate March in 2014, and the Global Climate Strike in 2019. These activities combined physical demonstrations with online communications and local organizing. The 2019 strikes, organized with a broad coalition influenced by Fridays for Future, involved actions in more than 150 countries and were widely described as the largest climate mobilization to that point. 350.org's public identity combines scientific communication with participatory activism. It uses the 350 ppm figure to make atmospheric science accessible while emphasizing that political and economic institutions determine whether fossil-fuel infrastructure continues to expand. Its campaigns frequently connect climate change with public health, water protection, labor, Indigenous rights, racial justice, and energy democracy. The organization also uses film, poetry, visual storytelling, petitions, youth leadership programs, and digital actions to broaden participation. The organization remains an active international climate-advocacy network. Public reference material identifies McKibben as a senior adviser and May Boeve as executive director in 2022. Its current legal structure, headquarters, financial data, and present leadership beyond those references are not established in the supplied material.

350.org emerged from Bill McKibben's Step It Up campaign in 2007. Step It Up organized approximately 1,400 demonstrations at notable locations in the United States to demand stronger action on global warming. McKibben, an environmental writer and activist, worked with students from Middlebury College in Vermont. The campaign's organizing model—small local groups coordinating around a shared national message—provided the foundation for 350.org. The new organization took its name from the atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentration of 350 parts per million. The figure was used as a memorable public target associated with climate safety, even though concentrations had already moved above it by the time of the organization's founding. 350.org translated the scientific concept into a global organizing framework, arguing that climate stabilization required political action to stop the expansion of coal, oil, and gas infrastructure and to build renewable-energy systems. In 2009, the organization coordinated the International Day of Climate Action before the Copenhagen climate negotiations. It reported 5,245 actions in 181 countries, ranging from demonstrations and marches to educational events, tree planting, bicycle activities, energy-efficiency projects, and symbolic displays of the number 350. The campaign helped establish 350.org as an international network rather than solely a United States advocacy group. In 2010, it worked with the 10:10 Climate Campaign on the Global Work Party, emphasizing practical local projects. The organization subsequently broadened its movement-building work. Connect the Dots in 2012 linked climate change with extreme weather. Global Power Shift began with a 2013 gathering in Istanbul involving roughly 500 organizers from 135 countries, followed by plans for national and regional events. The Summer Heat campaign that year organized actions at multiple locations in the United States and brought together environmental, labor, agricultural, and environmental-justice participants. A major strategic focus became fossil-fuel divestment. The Fossil Free campaign adapted a tactic associated with the anti-apartheid divestment movement and urged institutions to freeze new fossil-fuel investments and withdraw from direct holdings and pooled funds containing fossil-fuel equities or bonds. The campaign expanded from colleges and universities to cities, banks, development institutions, religious bodies, and other public and private organizations. Reference material states that, by October 2021, more than 1,500 institutions representing over US$40 trillion in assets had made some form of divestment commitment; this figure describes campaign commitments and is not 350.org revenue. 350.org also became prominent in opposition to major fossil-fuel infrastructure. Its Keystone XL campaign emphasized climate impacts, oil-spill risks, aquifer protection, limited permanent employment, and the possibility that the pipeline would facilitate export of Canadian oil sands crude. President Barack Obama's 2015 rejection of the project followed years of activism by 350.org and allied groups. The project was later revived under President Donald Trump, while President Joe Biden revoked its permit in 2021; TC Energy subsequently abandoned it. 350.org has continued to oppose other infrastructure projects, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Southgate Extension. The organization helped organize the People's Climate March in 2014 and was a leading organizer of the Global Climate Strike in September 2019. The latter was developed through a broad coalition of nongovernmental organizations, trade unions, and social movements and was influenced by Fridays for Future. Reported participation exceeded seven million people across 185 countries. Alongside street mobilization, 350.org has supported digital climate strikes, organizer education, petitions, local fossil-fuel bans, youth leadership, and creative communications. Its communications work has included the 2013 documentary Do the Math and the 2018 Rise: From One Island to Another film-and-poetry project, which connected the experiences of Marshall Islands and Greenland communities affected by sea-level rise and melting ice. In public descriptions, 350.org presents climate change as both a scientific and political problem, linking emissions reduction with economic justice, Indigenous and frontline-community rights, and democratic control of energy. The supplied reference material identifies May Boeve as executive director and Bill McKibben as a senior adviser in 2022. Current organizational details beyond that point require verification.

1. 2021Keystone XL abandoned

   Following revocation of the U.S. permit, TC Energy abandoned the project.

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2. 2019Global Climate Strike

   350.org helped coordinate a global mobilization reported to have involved more than seven million people in 185 countries.

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3. 2018Rise: From One Island to Another

   A film-and-poetry project explored sea-level rise through the perspectives of Marshall Islands and Greenland poets.

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4. 2015Keystone XL rejected

   President Obama rejected the proposed pipeline after sustained opposition from 350.org and other organizations.

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5. 2014People's Climate March

   350.org helped coordinate a worldwide mobilization involving approximately 2,000 events.

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6. 2013Global Power Shift and Summer Heat

   International organizers gathered in Istanbul, while U.S. groups conducted a series of mass Summer Heat actions.

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7. 2012Connect the Dots

   The campaign connected climate change with extreme weather and climate impacts.

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8. 2010Global Work Party

   The organization and 10:10 promoted locally focused climate projects worldwide.

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9. 2009International Day of Climate Action

   350.org coordinated thousands of actions in countries around the world before the Copenhagen climate meeting.

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10. 2008350.org develops as a global organization

    The Step It Up model was expanded into an international grassroots climate network.

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11. 2007Step It Up campaign and organizational origins

    Bill McKibben and Middlebury College students organized a major U.S. climate demonstration campaign that provided the basis for 350.org.

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A science-informed, international grassroots climate-movement platform focused on ending fossil-fuel expansion, shifting finance toward clean energy, and supporting locally led climate-justice campaigns.

• Fossil FreeCampaign platform2012

  350.org's international fossil-fuel divestment campaign asks institutions to stop making new investments in coal, oil, and gas and to withdraw from relevant direct holdings and pooled investments. It has worked with student groups, cities, religious institutions, banks, development organizations, and other asset owners.

• Do the MathDocumentary film and educational project2013

  A 42-minute documentary and associated campaign explaining the relationship between the remaining carbon budget for limiting warming and the much larger quantity of carbon contained in proven fossil-fuel reserves.

• Rise: From One Island to AnotherFilm, poetry, and climate storytelling2018

  A 2018 visual storytelling project featuring poets Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner of the Marshall Islands and Aka Niviâna of Greenland. It presents sea-level rise and ice loss as connected experiences across distant island and Arctic communities.

• 2024Mountain Valley Pipeline opposition

  United States

  350.org and GreenFaith organized an action opposing the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Southgate Extension.

  Outcome. Public protest in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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• 2019Global Climate Strike

  Global

  A coalition mobilization demanding emergency climate action and pressure on governments, media, and the fossil-fuel industry.

  Outcome. More than 7.6 million participants were reported across 185 countries.

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• 2014People's Climate March

  Global

  350.org helped coordinate a worldwide climate mobilization involving marches and related events.

  Outcome. Approximately 2,000 events were reported.

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• 2013Global Power Shift

  International

  Organizer training and movement-building beginning with a convergence in Istanbul, followed by national and regional events.

  Outcome. Created an international organizer network and locally adapted follow-up mobilizations.

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• 2013Summer Heat

  United States

  A series of mass actions opposing fossil-fuel projects and promoting climate organizing, involving labor, farmers, ranchers, environmental-justice groups, and other participants.

  Outcome. Actions took place at eleven U.S. locations.

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• 2012Connect the Dots / Climate Impacts Day

  Global

  A series of rallies and public actions linking extreme weather and other climate impacts to the broader climate crisis.

  Outcome. Global campaign mobilization.

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• 2010Global Work Party

  Global

  A joint campaign with 10:10 that emphasized local climate solutions such as tree planting, solar installations, and energy-provider switching.

  Outcome. Actions were organized internationally.

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• 2009International Day of Climate Action

  Global

  A worldwide day of demonstrations, teach-ins, symbolic actions, and practical projects intended to influence delegates attending the Copenhagen climate negotiations.

  Outcome. 350.org reported 5,245 actions in 181 countries.

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• 2019Join the Global Climate Strike coalitionStrategy

  School strikes associated with Fridays for Future created an opportunity for broader cooperation among climate groups, unions, and civil-society organizations.

  What changed. 350.org helped coordinate physical and digital strikes in multiple countries.

  Aftermath. The mobilization became one of the largest reported climate demonstrations in history and increased public visibility of climate emergency demands.

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• 2015Sustain opposition to Keystone XLOther

  The proposed pipeline became a central climate and environmental-justice issue because of its connection to Canadian oil sands and potential spill and emissions risks.

  What changed. 350.org maintained public pressure and coalition organizing against presidential approval of the project.

  Aftermath. President Obama rejected the pipeline in 2015; after later permit changes, President Biden revoked the permit in 2021 and TC Energy abandoned the project.

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• 2012Expand fossil-fuel divestment into a global campaignStrategy

  350.org sought to challenge the financial and political power of fossil-fuel companies by adapting divestment tactics used in earlier social movements.

  What changed. It developed the Fossil Free campaign and asked institutions to freeze new fossil-fuel investments and divest existing holdings where possible.

  Aftermath. The campaign spread from U.S. campuses to cities, banks, religious organizations, and other institutions internationally.

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• 2024350.org and GreenFaith oppose Mountain Valley Pipeline

  The groups held an action in Charlotte, North Carolina, opposing the Mountain Valley Pipeline and its proposed Southgate Extension.

  Campaign
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• 2019Global Climate Strike mobilizes millions

  350.org was among the leading organizers of the September 20–27 mobilization, with actions reported across more than 150 countries.

  Campaign
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• 2015Obama rejects the Keystone XL pipeline

  The United States rejected the proposed pipeline after a lengthy review; 350.org and allied groups had campaigned against the project for years.

  Other
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• 2014People's Climate March draws international participation

  350.org helped organize a global series of climate demonstrations, including the major New York City march.

  Campaign
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• 2013Global Power Shift launches with international organizer gathering

  Climate organizers from numerous countries met in Istanbul to share organizing skills and develop national mobilization plans.

  Campaign
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• 2010350.org and 10:10 coordinate the Global Work Party

  A worldwide day of practical climate actions included tree planting, renewable-energy installations, and local energy initiatives.

  Campaign
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• 2009350.org coordinates the International Day of Climate Action

  The organization reported thousands of climate actions across countries ahead of the Copenhagen climate negotiations.

  Campaign
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1. 350.org
2. Official 350.org website