The Sunrise Movement has launched a sweeping new campaign aimed at confronting what it calls an alliance between former President Donald Trump and fossil fuel oligarchs. Branded “End the Oligarchy, Save Our Futures,” the campaign is Sunrise’s most ambitious to date—mobilizing millions of young people nationwide to hold Big Oil accountable and fight back against what organizers describe as the Trump administration’s authoritarianism and corporate favoritism.
The youth-led climate group announced the campaign on Wednesday, beginning with a virtual kickoff event featuring Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), comedian Hannah Einbinder, and a slate of grassroots organizers. The event came on the heels of a weekend of massive “No Kings” protests that mobilized millions in opposition to Trump’s militarized crackdown on immigrants and his controversial parade in Washington, D.C.
In an op-ed, Sunrise Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay described the campaign as a direct response to escalating threats posed by the Trump administration and its fossil fuel allies. “Donald Trump and his cronies are waging war on the American people,” she wrote. “Trump deployed the National Guard to aid his mass abduction of undocumented immigrants. A U.S. senator was handcuffed and thrown to the ground for asking the Trump regime a basic question. Meanwhile, as the Atlantic hurricane season kicked off, Trump gutted climate rules and announced his intention to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
A central pillar of the campaign is holding Big Oil accountable for climate disasters. Sunrise aims to “villainize Big Oil for knowingly fueling the climate crisis while raking in billions in profit” and push for the expansion of “polluters pay” laws—state-level superfund bills that require fossil fuel companies to cover the costs of disaster recovery, infrastructure damage, and clean energy transition. Vermont and New York have already passed such legislation, and similar bills are being considered in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon.
But Trump, at the urging of oil industry allies, issued an executive order in April instructing the Department of Justice to halt enforcement of these laws, prompting a wave of legal challenges from fossil fuel interests. “He takes his orders from big oil billionaires like the ones who funded his campaign,” said Sunrise co-founder and communications director Stevie O’Hanlon.
Representative Ro Khanna, a vocal critic of taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuel companies, was among the first speakers at the campaign launch. “Climate disasters are devastating working people around the country—destroying homes and pushing people into crushing debt,” he said. “It’s far past time that Big Oil be held accountable.”
The movement’s leaders are framing their demands in populist terms, positioning themselves as defenders of ordinary people against corporate elites and political enablers. “What we’re seeing right now around the country is a deep sense that this system isn’t working for us and that it is working for billionaires and rich people,” said Shiney-Ajay. “The polluters’ pay frame speaks to that idea that some of the richest companies should help clean up the mess they made, while also undermining Trump on something where he polls the lowest, which is on climate issues.”
Sunrise’s new campaign is a national effort. “We see this as a 50-state campaign,” O’Hanlon said. Organizers believe the polluters pay legislation has broader political appeal than other climate policies and note that both the New York and Vermont bills had Republican co-sponsors. The group is hopeful that even in conservative-leaning states like Florida, there is potential for bipartisan support.
“We’re bringing this message to the people who liked the call for government efficiency that we’ve seen from Doge and Elon Musk and Trump,” said Ramón Pereira Bonilla, a 24-year-old Sunrise organizer from flood-prone Orlando. “We’re saying: ‘We want to make the government more efficient for taxpayers, save taxpayers money.’”
In California, where fires devastated Los Angeles earlier this year, organizers are pushing for a climate superfund bill before the legislative session ends in September. “We’ve known that fossil fuel extraction has caused the climate crisis for decades,” said Nicolas Gardner Serna, a 26-year-old organizer with Sunrise’s Los Angeles chapter. “There is a sustained and powerful effort from the community to hold corporations accountable.”
Sunrise will also tighten its political endorsement criteria, requiring all endorsed candidates to reject fossil fuel donations and support polluters pay legislation. The group has previously backed climate progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Greg Casar (D-Texas), but has not yet released its endorsements for the 2026 cycle.
Looking further ahead, Sunrise hopes to lay the groundwork for a national general strike in 2028. Organizers plan to synchronize their efforts with the United Auto Workers union, whose president, Shawn Fain, has urged other unions to align their contracts with UAW’s in preparation for May Day 2028. Sunrise intends to mobilize millions of students to participate.
“We intend to make sure millions of students are ready to join workers in demanding an overhaul of our political and economic system so that it finally works for everyday people,” said Shiney-Ajay. “It’s a bold plan, but if we pull it off, it will change the course of history. It’s going to require all of us stepping up.”
To re-energize the youth climate movement, Sunrise will organize nationwide “school strikes” reminiscent of those led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. They are also considering more disruptive, nonviolent protest tactics to confront the magnitude of the climate emergency and political inaction.
For Sunrise leaders, the stakes are high. The campaign is not only about passing legislation or winning elections, but about redefining power in the face of fossil-fueled authoritarianism. “The billionaires and corporations and fascists from the administration are terrified of communities coming together and standing up for themselves,” said Gardner Serna.
Despite legal obstacles, organizers remain committed. “When we organize, we can rewrite the rules and build something more fair, more honest and more prepared for the future we deserve,” said Cassidy DiPaola, communications director of the Make Polluters Pay campaign.
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