In early 2018 the Charlotte City Council invited local leaders from the environmental, health, faith, justice, business, and government sectors to provide input on a suite of climate-related policies and commitments that eventually became the Sustainable and Resilient Charlotte by 2050 Resolution and the Strategic Energy Action Plan (SEAP). Now representing over 30 organizations, the community stakeholders organized themselves as the Charlotte Mecklenburg Climate Leaders (CMCL) and began meeting monthly at CleanAIRE NC’s Charlotte office. Meetings are held virtually at noon on the third Wednesday of each month.

CMCL members also sit on the SEAP’s four external content groups: Energy Generation, Workforce Development, Buildings, and Transportation, to create and support strategies that will help the city meet its community-wide goal of becoming a low carbon city by 2050, spanning all sectors, to bring city-wide greenhouse gas emissions to below 2 tons CO2e per person annually. 

In May 2021, CMCL hosted the Greening Our Faith Communities Summit. The coalition also created the NC Climate Ambassadors, a partnership with ecoAmerica’s Path to Positive Communities which provides training and resources to engage more North Carolinians in community dialogue and advocacy about climate change’s impact on the state and solutions that can be implemented now.