Dear Members,

 

This October edition of the notes is from Jeff Gross, Vice-Chair, standing in for Susan Eastwood, who is blessedly on vacation. 

 

As always, Sierra Club Connecticut is driven by the energy, dedication, and insight of our volunteers. Understanding what matters most to you — our supporters — is key to aligning our actions with our shared commitment to protecting the environment.

 

Summer Survey – What We Heard

Over the summer, we conducted a membership survey to better understand your priorities and concerns. The early results reveal several important themes — areas where our collective efforts can make the most difference. We’ll be sharing more detail soon on how we plan to incorporate these ideas into our programs and advocacy for the year ahead. 

 

Some initial interpretation of results:

• Climate change, including renewable energy, is a primary concern for many of the responders

• Preserving natural habitats and biodiversity, are a close second

• Social and public health issues are also important 

 

The volume of respondents is modest compared to our overall membership. The three issues raised do align strongly with the Chapter’s existing priorities — an encouraging sign — but we welcome more input to ensure a broader, more representative conversation with all our Connecticut members. Add your input and take the survey here.

 

Climate Change –  October 2025

Globally, there are some encouraging signs around the world that renewable energy technologies — especially solar — are being adopted at a remarkable scale. Even Bill McKibben, a leading voice for climate action, expressed surprise in his recent book Here Comes the Sun at how rapidly solar power has spread in nations once dependent on fossil fuels. 

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While these “green shoots” bring hope, global progress remains uneven. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continue to show the world lagging behind the 2030 targets of the Paris Climate Agreement.

 

Two recent conferences also highlighted different aspects of how the world's industry and governments are responding to climate change.

 

At the first conference, the head of Climate Change Risk for Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company, described the major challenges in providing insurance in the era of rapid climate change. The science involved is so complicated that they are searching for scarce PhD-level talent to project risk decades into the future. This research is necessary to set reasonable premiums and protect the reserve funds of their clients, who are the insurance companies originating the coverage. Bottom line — it will become very, very expensive in the future to insure existing housing and commercial buildings. (Even today some markets and locations in the U.S. face significant difficulty in obtaining insurance coverage.)

 

The second conference was hosted by the European Union financial authorities, who are the equivalent of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States. Starting in 2023, the EU started phasing in a requirement for large companies — including non-EU global companies — to report on their CO2 emissions, including in their supply chain and emissions from use of their products. The intention is to provide investors the information needed to consider climate risks to the company’s success, but also to redirect investment to climate-friendly projects and companies.

  

However, these plans were slowed by litigation in the U.S. in 2024 against the corresponding SEC rule, and totally paused when the 2025 U.S.-EU negotiations around Tariffs forbade the EU to require this data. The length of the resulting "time-out" to implement these plans is still being negotiated in the European Parliament, but the expectation is that the largest European companies will still be required to disclose this data in the future.  

 

Our newsletter this month features updates on DEEP’s denial of petitions for an adjudicatory hearing on the proposed expansion of the Brookfield compressor station, Remington Woods and conservation work, why you should join our Legislative Committee, and advocacy for an Environmental Rights Amendment in Connecticut as well as upcoming events.

 

Thank you for being part of this movement. Your time, your ideas, and your persistence make the Sierra Club what it is. Together, we can ensure that Connecticut — and the planet we all share — remains resilient, just, and full of life.

 

In solidarity and gratitude,
Jeff Gross

Jeff Gross is Vice-Chair of Sierra Club Connecticut. 

 

Image by Joe from Pixabay