It’s only become clearer each year that effects of climate change are getting worse.

Associations are already feeling its effects—from the impact of natural disasters on members and conferences, to an increased demand to host more sustainable meetings and make decisions that take climate impact into consideration.

“If your budget is tied to one conference in a state experiencing natural disasters, you’re going to have a problem,” said Shelly Alcorn, principal futurist at Michelle Alcorn and Associates. “If you aren’t investing in your components, what will happen when one chapter is dealing with a forest fire and another chapter across the country is suffering from an earthquake?”

According to Elizabeth Engel, CAE, chief strategist at Spark Consulting, organizations know the business and moral imperatives to act against climate change. “But because the problem is so big, associations often don’t know where to start,” she said.

That’s where Engel and Alcorn’s recently released white paper “The Time is Now: Association Resilience and Adaption and the Anthropocene Climate Disruption,” comes in. Using this resource, associations can begin making concrete, meaningful changes that allow them to stay steady amid uncertainty.

Reevaluate Conferences

If you’re searching for a good place to start adapting your organization, look no further than your annual meeting. The white paper includes a case study examining how the American Association of Geographers modified to its annual event in response to climate change.

“When AAG resumed in-person meetings in 2023, the association’s climate task force recommended creating conference nodes to reduce the event’s carbon footprint,” Engel said. “AAG recruited partner institutions to host venues to stream content.”

The nodes operated in one of two way: While most universities hosted watch parties where registered attendees decided together what sessions to view, one institution partnered as a satellite location and hosted presentations that were broadcast as part of the larger meeting.

“The nodes created a shared space for sessions and allowed for social opportunities that don’t always translate to a fully virtual environment,” Engel said. “AAG plans to go bigger with the nodes idea for 2024, in part because the event is in Hawai’i, which carries an even larger potential carbon footprint.

Rethink Advocacy Efforts

In the white paper, Engel and Alcorn also recommend that associations lobby for climate-friendly policies.

“Association advocacy often focuses just on issues that directly impact the industry, but many industries and professions will be impacted by climate change,” Engel said. “Members will need support from climate shifts that could cause enormous economic losses.”

According to Alcorn, associations need to philosophically shift from legislative action as a member benefit to legislation and regulatory action being a civic responsibility.

“Organizations need to be a bridge between their industries and professions and make the case to members and legislators that protecting the environment and lowering carbon emissions is good for business,” she said.

Empower Local Groups

The white paper also details how and why associations should strengthen their components in the face of a rapidly changing environment.

“Resilient components are better able to withstand unexpected problems. If the national association gets knocked offline, its chapters can continue to operate, make decisions, and support each other,” Engel said.

Developing disaster plans and investing financial resources can help empower components. Engel and Alcorn also recommend giving clear, intentional authority to chapter leadership.

“Reinvesting in your chapters strengthens members,” Engel said. “You don’t need to rely on an annual conference as the single occasion to build community. Instead, chapters will feel enabled to hold their own events, which limits everyone’s carbon footprint and builds a strong community of peers.”

Associations without components should think in terms of continuity of operations and ensure their boards are geographically diverse and their members have defined leadership roles if the association’s headquarters are compromised.

As leaders start tackling these changes, it’s important they remember that while the challenges seem mighty so are associations.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel: there are many tools and resources to help you rethink your conference offerings, retool our advocacy efforts, or strengthen your components,” Alcorn said. “The car is moving, and we need to assemble it as we go.”

[Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn/ISTOCK]