Background

A livable future demands a rapid phaseout of fossil fuels. Climate Emergency Fund's flagship partner, the Climate Resistance Incubator (CRI), is working to make that possible. Training and coaching the next generation of multiracial, cross-class, young climate leaders to build toward a nonviolent mass movement, CRI began harnessing an already organic fight against unchecked AI data center proliferation last year.

The data center crisis: a new organizing frontier

Data centers are physical threats to residential and rural communities around the world. They embody a dangerous convergence: the consolidation of Big Tech, rising authoritarianism, and the last frontier of the fossil fuel era.

Frontline movements mounting the fight

With more than a third of our 2026 funding directed for data center campaigns, our grantees are explicitly challenging this infrastructure organizing in over 45 states and 10 countries.

One example is the Climate Revolution Action Network of NJ (CRAN), a Gen Z-led movement that has halted multiple data center projects and won thousands of acres of land preservation in population-dense New Jersey. Their demand: a statewide moratorium tying data center construction to renewable energy.

Headlines on our data center work

• The People vs. AI, TIME Magazine
• The Data-Center Divide, Harper’s Magazine
• ‘A Big F*ck You to Big Tech’: New Jersey Residents Defeat AI Data Center, Common Dreams
• The fight against AI datacenters isn’t just about tech – it’s about democracy, The Guardian

2026 philanthropic impact

We aim to raise $4.5 million around this work: $2.5 million to support movement coaches, staffing, and training logistics for the Climate Resistance Incubator, and $2 million for groups they create — a fund to provide direct startup grants of $25,000 to $100,000 to more than two dozen emerging campaigns and organizers.

Together, we can empower communities to reclaim democratic control and halt extractive infrastructure before it's too late.