Initial Publication Date: December 8, 2023

Accelerating Climate Capacity, Engagement, and Leadership Summit (ACCELS) Convened by CLEAN

ACCELS was created in 2022 to provide an opportunity for CLEAN Network members and others involved in climate and energy education to gather, share and learn, and, most importantly, explore collaborations for the next year. The final cycle of the ACCEL Summit was held in 2025. ACCELS has provided space to come together to develop a learning and action network that can advance future programming with a shared awareness of what others are doing, explore opportunities to collaborate, and orient our collective efforts towards systemic change. You can read more about the event from our report on one of our past Summits here.

In more recent years, we shifted the design of the ACCEL Summit to feature working groups who met regularly between a winter kick off event and a spring culminating event. We put out a call for proposals to members of the CLEAN community to propose topics and ideas they would like to lead working groups on. We also gave space for discussion of other topics of interest not represented in these working groups. In the kick off event, we invited members of our community to join these working groups with the goal of providing opportunities for networking and collaboration, and to push forward on topics that our community had identified as priority areas.

The 2025 ACCEL Summit introduced working groups who met regularly between January's kick off event and a July 2025 culminating event. Each of the working groups were proposed by members of the CLEAN Network and the event provided space for groups to share about their progress and discuss further. We also gave space for discussion of other topics of interest not yet represented in these working groups. 2025's working groups included:

-Climate Change Education for Young Learners Using Children's Literature

-Moving Youth from Knowledge to Action

-Climate Career Pathways

-Simulations and Games for Climate & Energy Education

-Climate Education, Equity and Action

In the share out event, working group leaders gave presentations about their success and challenges, and all attendees were invited to join breakout rooms immediately following to discuss further. We invited members of our community to join these working groups with the goal of providing opportunities for networking and collaboration, and to push forward on topics that our community has identified as priority areas.

You can view recordings of ACCEL Summits on CLEAN's YouTube channel here.

ACCEL Summit Matrix

A major outcome of the ACCEL Summit is increased networking and connections through the ACCELS Matrix. The Matrix is a living document designed to showcase the diversity of work that is occurring across the climate and energy education landscape. Individuals are invited to self-identify priority topic areas in their work, and to view on the Matrix who may be doing similar work. This provides the opportunity to connect and engage with leaders across the Network users may not yet be aware of.

You can access the ACCELS Matrix here.

Working Group Outcomes

Featuring the ACCELS Games and Simulations for Climate and Energy Education group:

The main goal of the group has been to complete a roundup of Climate and Energy education-related simulations and games. Because CLEAN has not had the capacity to review these types of resources in the formal Collection, this group aims to fill that gap. The concept for this working group has been to generate a list of such resources, so that other educators could find them when needed, and to prevent "re-inventing the wheel" if something suitable already exists.

  • View the three Climate Games Showcase webinars that were held during Earth Week in April 2025, featuring 6 games. You can find the recordings on YouTube here.
  • Links to several lists of climate & energy simulations and games provided by participants are also available here. 
  • Join the monthly series of videoconferences featuring demos and "play along" sessions of climate & energy games & simulations. Announcements will be posted on CLEAN listserv.

Other past groups have included:

  • Addressing Climate Emotions in Classrooms
  • Development of a Flexible Concept Inventory For High School Students
  • Characterizing the Unique Opportunities and Challenges of Supporting Climate Change Education in Rural Communities
  • Climate Education and Action, Social and Environmental Justice