A UK-based organisation, the Working Class Climate Alliance (WCCA) was founded in 2023 in response to the exclusion of the working class from mainstream environmental movements and the professional sector.
The working class have always been forced to endure the greatest impacts of climate change. Despite this, they remain grossly under-represented in the mainstream environmental movement. A lack of time and money, along with social exclusion rooted in inequalities (such as classism and racism) play large roles in alienating working-class people from these spaces.
Instead of seeking to eliminate these barriers to participation, broad sections of the climate movement misrepresent this absence as proof of the working class’s ‘lack of concern’ and ‘ignorance’ about climate change. As a result, it has become normalised for more privileged voices to speak on behalf of our social class, and overlook the working class forms of environmentalism that have proliferated for centuries.
This is why the WCCA was created. We are a network of working-class people, currently spanning 26 countries across the Global North and Global South. We support working-class communities and trade unions in campaigning at the local, national and international levels, while also striving to the strengthen the presence of working-class voices in the mainstream environmental movement and non-profit sector. Through our efforts, we aim to show how climate change is not just a matter of ecological breakdown, but deeply embedded in other injustices such as capitalism, classism, imperialism, colonialism and racism.
We achieve these goals in various ways, such as lending practical advice to campaigns, helping workplaces to unionise, delivering workshops, providing consultancy services, public speaking as well as organising events such as day schools. We collaborate with people across the world including trade unions, working class-led groups, middle class-led groups, as well as the professional sector (such as academia think-tanks, NGOs and charities). Check out our 2023-2024 Annual Report to read more about our achievements.
We are always looking to collaborate with people who share the same values and aims as us. If you are interested in collaborating and would like to read more about the work that we do, click here. If you are working class/from a working-class background and would like to join our network, click here to sign up. You can also sign up to our monthly newsletter here, if you would like to stay up to date with the WCCA’s campaigns and events.
The WCCA has received generous grants from the Calouste Gulbkenian Foundation and the Raymond Williams Foundation to support the work that we do. We are also funded through the purchase of solidarity tickets to our events, and commissioned work from organisations and institutions whose mission aligns with our values. We have undertaken paid commissions from various organisations and institutions, including:
- Class Work Project
- Common Wealth
- European Trade Union Institute
- New Economy Organisers Network (NEON)
- Oxfam Ireland
- Partners for a New Economy (P4NE)
- Possible
- Space4
- Stay Grounded
- The British Academy
We are members of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), The Climate Coalition, the Climate Justice Coalition and The Movement’s Trust. The Movement’s Trust acts as our fiscal sponsor. We are not affiliated with any political parties.
The WCCA 