FAQs

On September 19th, 2013, the Abbott Government abolished the Climate Commission, an independent body established in 2011 to communicate reliable and authoritative climate information. Just five days later, the independent Climate Council was launched by Professor Tim Flannery and current CEO, Amanda McKenzie, thanks to the biggest crowd-funding campaign of its time: more than 16,000 Australians pitched in over $1.1 million dollars in just 10 days to bring the organisation to life. 

The Climate Council is an evidence-based organisation. We advocate for climate policies and solutions that can rapidly drive down emissions, based on the most up-to-date climate science and information.

The Climate Council produces reports that are used and trusted by government, business, industry, movement players and educators.

We also produce thousands of accurate, influential, and engaging communication pieces every year that are shared in traditional and social media to shape the conversation on climate impacts and solutions. 

We do all of this in partnership with our incredible community: thousands of generous, passionate supporters and donors, who have backed us every step of the way since they crowd-funded our beginning as a non-profit organisation in 2013.

We receive no government funding and rely on tax deductible donations from the public and philanthropic donors. This enables us to remain independent. In 2013, thousands of Australians chipped in to become Founding Friends of the Climate Council, together raising more than $1 million. As far as we know, it was the biggest crowd-funding campaign in Australia’s history at the time. Make a tax deductible donation here to power our critical work.

The Climate Council’s Chief Climate Councillor is Professor Tim Flannery, former Australian of the Year. Our Climate Councillors are some of Australia’s leading climate scientists, energy, health and policy experts and they lend their expertise to the Climate Council. You can read their profiles here. To contact a Climate Councillor, email info@climatecouncil.org.au.

Over the past decade, the Climate Council has produced 164 reports, its experts have featured in more than 230,000 media reports, the team has trained more than 1,500 spokespeople to set the record straight on climate change, and we have grown our online community to over 550,000 Australians, many of whom have been with us every step of the way. 

Our impact has only been possible thanks to our incredible community. You can read more about what we’ve accomplished in the decade since our foundation here.

Check out our Take Action page for a range of ways to take action on climate change.

Subscribe to the Climate Council’s mailing list today to receive regular emails from our expert Councillors, campaigners and communicators about the latest climate science, impacts and solutions – and how you can accelerate action with us. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, LinkedIn and/or TikTok for more updates about our work.

Yes! Donations of $2 or more to the Climate Council made after 17 August 2015 are tax deductible in Australia. Any optional tips towards our fundraising fees made on top of your donation are also tax-deductible.

Thank you for your interest in supporting the Climate Council’s work with a tax-deductible donation! If you are in the position to do so, please make a regular gift as this is essential for our long-term planning and impact. 

You can make an online donation here. 

Alternatively, you can make a direct deposit or cheque donation here.

To donate over the phone, please call our Donor Care Team on (02) 9356 8505 between the hours of 9am-5pm AEST/AEDT, Monday to Friday.

We recommended seeking professional legal advice when writing or updating your Will to help ensure your intentions are realised and distributions to your beneficiaries are maximised.

Having your Will written by a lawyer shouldn’t be expensive and will provide you with peace of mind knowing your wishes are more likely to be upheld. If you need a lawyer, reach out to your state or territory Law society and they can refer you.

For more information about leaving a gift in your Will visit our gifts in Wills webpage here.
You can also contact our Philanthropy Specialist directly on 02 9356 8531, or email legacy@climatecouncil.org.au.

When you first set up your regular gift, you will receive an email with your donation receipt attached. You will then receive a consolidated receipt in July each year for all of your donations during the previous financial year.

Please enter your email address here and you’ll receive an email to access your Account Portal, where you can securely update your payment details. If you donate regularly via PayPal, you will need to update your card details in your PayPal account.

Please email our Donor Care Team at community@climatecouncil.org.au or call (02) 9356 8505, 9am – 5pm AEST/AEDT Monday to Friday.

You might find an answer to your question in our Regular Giving FAQs here. Please email our Donor Care Team at community@climatecouncil.org.au or call (02) 9356 8505, 9am – 5pm AEST/AEDT, Monday to Friday.

Please email info@climatecouncil.org.au with your new email address and we can update your email address for you.

Please email info@climatecouncil.org.au with your new contact details and we will update these for you.

Please complete the speaker request form here. We aim to respond to you with an outcome within 2 weeks.

As a small organisation, the Council currently only has capacity to manage a very small number of volunteers. Keep an eye on our volunteer page for updates.

A job at the Climate Council is an opportunity to work with some of Australia’s brightest minds tackling the biggest challenge of our time. Keep an eye on our job page for available job listings.

Thank you for asking, but unfortunately our staff are really busy working on our research, advocacy, and communications projects to help Australia cut climate pollution! We hope you understand and we wish you well for your climate project. You can find lots of resources on our website that could help you with your project here.

It’s great that you’re studying climate impacts or solutions for your school project! You can find a lot of resources to help you with your project here – just remember to cite the Climate Council and any report authors if you’re using a report. We can help you answer specific questions about our resources or point you in the right direction for resources, but unfortunately we don’t have capacity to answer general questions. You can speak to your teacher if you need more help.