Climate funders skip housing policy despite decarbonization case
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- Ben Holland of WRI’s New Urban Mobility Alliance has spent months interviewing climate funders to understand their reluctance to support housing policy as climate strategy
- Caroline Spears of Climate Cabinet released a major housing-climate policy platform and works directly with state legislators to advance legislation linking land use and emissions reductions
- David Roberts, host of Volts, argues that dense, walkable urbanism is not just a co-benefit but a core climate strategy necessary to reduce vehicle emissions at scale
- RMI experts provided quantitative analysis showing that decarbonization goals cannot be met without reducing vehicle miles traveled through urban planning and housing density
- Matthew Lewis of California YIMBY highlighted the political momentum behind housing reform and the climate movement’s failure to engage with it meaningfully
Why it matters: Climate funders’ absence from housing policy weakens decarbonization efforts, even as states pass laws that reduce emissions through zoning reform and transit-oriented development. The gap leaves advocates like Climate Cabinet to fill the strategic and financial void with limited resources.
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