What Better World Group does

Better World Group (legally Better World Group Advisors, Inc.) is a privately held environmental, energy, climate, and conservation policy and advocacy firm founded in 1999 by Wendy James and headquartered in Los Angeles with a second office in Sacramento. The firm advises philanthropic, nonprofit, governmental, and select corporate clients — including the Energy Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, LA Metro, California Air Resources Board, NRDC, Sierra Club, American Lung Association, and Toyota — on zero-emission transportation, clean air, climate resilience, clean energy transition, and rights-of-nature policy. The firm is not a technology company; its core "product" is human expertise in coalition building, campaign management, regulatory navigation, and environmental justice integration. Its revenue model is professional services, with project-based consulting engagements, retainers, and contracted advisory work; pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated individually.

The firm's operating model centers on building and leading diverse coalitions to drive landmark policy outcomes. By the firm's own accounting, in its first 20 years BWG helped California enact the first greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, develop the first Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard for electricity, and set the first CO2 standards in the nation; in 2021 it led a coalition that secured California's Advanced Clean Cars II rule (100% zero-emission new car sales by 2035) and an "Invest in Clean Air" coalition of more than 50 organizations that secured $3.5 billion for ZEV transportation investments. A separate coalition of more than 70 organizations backed California's Advanced Clean Fleets rule, and BWG extended that work into Oregon, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

In 2018 Wendy James passed leadership to Cecilia V. Estolano, an urban planner, land use and environmental lawyer who had been CEO of CRA/LA and a former EPA Senior Policy Advisor; the same year BWG formalized an affiliation with sister firm Estolano Advisors, an urban planning practice sharing the same CEO. The team numbers 20-25 people spanning senior advisors, principals, managing principal, associate principals, and associates with expertise from air quality and transportation to oceans, water, conservation, and faith organizing. The firm is B Corp certified and won a 2021 Regional Emmy Award for the NOAA Marine Debris "Trash Talk" series. No external funding rounds, acquisitions, or parent company relationships are disclosed.

Name

Better World Group

Legal name

Better World Group Advisors, Inc.

Website

https://betterworldgroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Better World Group is a Los Angeles-based environmental policy and advocacy firm that advises foundations, government agencies, nonprofits, and select corporations on climate, clean energy, clean transportation, and environmental justice policy through coalition leadership and strategic consulting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Policy Consulting

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

akta.pro primary industry

Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation (BPAGAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Climate Policy, Governance & NDC Support (BPADALAA), Environmental Justice & Community Environmental Health (BPAGAGAL)

Keywords

• Climate policy advisory
• Environmental consulting
• Clean energy advocacy
• Coalition building services
• Environmental justice consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Strategic Advisory and Consulting Services: Better World Group provides advisory services to government agencies, nonprofits, foundations, and private clients on environmental policy, climate programs, and advocacy campaigns. Revenue is generated through project-based consulting engagements, retainer arrangements, and contracted advisory work.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Better World Group is an environmental, energy, climate, and conservation policy and advocacy firm. The firm builds and guides diverse coalitions and advises philanthropic, nonprofit, governmental, and private clients on programs, policies, and campaigns through strategic consulting, coalition leadership, equity integration, and campaign management across its practice areas of zero emission transportation and clean air, rights of nature, clean energy, and racial justice and democracy.

Product overview

Better World Group is an environmental, energy, climate, and conservation policy and advocacy firm. Rather than offering a software product or platform, the firm provides professional consulting services including zero emission transportation and clean air advocacy, climate resilience planning, nature conservation policy, clean energy transition advisory, and racial justice and democracy thought leadership. The firm builds and guides diverse coalitions and advises philanthropic, nonprofit, governmental, and private clients on programs, policies, and campaigns.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Advisory and Consulting Services Project-based and retainer advisory services where Better World Group designs and guides programs, policies, and campaigns for philanthropic, nonprofit, governmental, and private clients across environmental, energy, climate, and conservation issues.
• Zero Emission Transportation and Clean Air Advisory Advisory and coalition services to advance zero emission transportation, clean air, and climate resilience benefits for low-income and burdened communities of color; includes equity-focused campaign work such as the Clean Cars Campaign and the Electric for All activation with Veloz.
• Clean Energy Transition Advisory Advisory services to accelerate the clean energy transition and deliver benefits to workers and low-income, highly burdened communities of color while protecting nature.
• Rights of Nature and Conservation Policy Services Advisory and campaign services focused on protecting all living beings and natural systems, including air, land, and water, and supporting parks, public lands, and conservation ballot measures.
• Climate Adaptation and Resilience Planning Government-facing advisory services for climate adaptation and resilience planning, including Salton Sea revitalization support for the California Natural Resources Agency and a first-of-its-kind working group for California wildfire resilience blueprinting.
• Coalition Building and Campaign Management Lead convener services for diverse multi-stakeholder coalitions spanning environmental justice, labor, health, tribal, business, consumer, and environmental organizations; includes running the Clean Cars Campaign Coalition of 70+ organizations and the Invest in Clean Air coalition of 50+ organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Led coalition that helped pass California's Advanced Clean Cars II requiring 100% zero emission new car sales by 2035
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered key, core and flagship.

• Resources Legacy FundkeyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnered with Resources Legacy Fund to organize the first-of-its-kind working group of clean air, workers' rights, tribal representatives, and public health experts to create a blueprint for wildfire resilience in California.
• VelozkeyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Better World Group partnered with Veloz, a non-profit dedicated to educating the public about electric car benefits, as equity advisor for the 2021 Electric for All marketing campaign. The campaign featured local environmental justice heroes alongside actor/activists Mark Ruffalo and Chloe Bennet. BWG recruited local heroes, created Spanish-language content, and helped pitch the campaign to media outlets including ABC7, KTLA, and ABC30.
• Invest in Clean Air CoalitionkeyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Led a coalition of more than 50 organizations that secured $3.5 billion for ZEV transportation investments over three years in California state budget. Coalition included environmental justice, health, labor, and business organizations.
• Estolano AdvisorscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018In 2018, Better World Group formalized its affiliation with Estolano Advisors, an award-winning urban planning and public policy firm. Estolano Advisors works with public agencies, non-profits, philanthropies, and businesses to craft innovative solutions to address complex problems. The two firms are sister companies with shared leadership (CEO Cecilia Estolano leads both firms), providing complementary expertise in climate policy and urban planning.
• Clean Cars Campaign CoalitionflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLed the Clean Cars Campaign, a coalition of dozens of advocacy organizations including labor, health, consumer, equity, business and environmental organizations that successfully advocated for California's Advanced Clean Cars II regulation requiring 100% of new cars sold to be zero emission by 2035.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Atlas Public Policy: Small policy research and advocacy firm focused on clean transportation, zero-emission vehicles, and clean energy deployment, working with state agencies, utilities, and advocacy groups. Comparable because both firms concentrate on California-led ZEV policy and operate as policy/advocacy intermediaries between regulators, advocates, and industry.
• M+R Strategic Services: Large advocacy marketing and campaign firm with a longstanding climate/environmental practice serving nonprofits, foundations, and coalitions. Comparable because BWG and M+R both run coalition-based advocacy campaigns, manage foundation-funded climate communications, and deliver campaign strategy for environmental and equity causes.
• Climate Advisers: Climate-focused strategic advisory firm working across federal, state, and international policy with foundations, NGOs, and governments. Comparable because both firms provide climate-policy advisory, coalition support, and strategic guidance to philanthropic and governmental clients on climate/energy implementation.
• Spitfire Strategies: Strategic communications firm that designs and executes advocacy and policy campaigns for foundations, nonprofits, and coalitions, with climate/environment as a core vertical. Comparable because both firms deliver message development, campaign planning, and stakeholder engagement to advance climate and equity policy outcomes.
• Estolano Advisors: Sister firm to Better World Group since the 2018 affiliation; shared CEO Cecilia Estolano and overlapping public agencies/nonprofit/philanthropy client base. Comparable because both deliver strategic advisory, coalition facilitation, and policy consulting on climate, equity, and urban planning issues to overlapping California government and foundation clients.

Broad incumbents

• Energy Innovation: National clean-energy policy think tank producing research, modeling, and policy design for state and federal decarbonization, including transportation electrification. Comparable because both organizations shape state-level clean-energy and ZEV policy through research, technical analysis, and direct engagement with agencies and advocates.
• RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute): Large clean-energy transformation research and advisory organization working globally on transportation, buildings, and grid decarbonization. Comparable because both organizations provide policy and program advisory to governments and foundations on clean-energy and transportation-electrification pathways, though RMI operates at much greater scale.

Emerging players

• Veloz: Nonprofit public-education campaign on electric vehicles, an existing BWG partner (BWG served as equity advisor for the 2021 Electric for All campaign). Comparable because both organizations operate in California ZEV advocacy and run coordinated public-facing campaigns to accelerate EV adoption.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/betterworldgroup
• Xx.com/betterworld_grp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/better-world-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Better World Group