Foundations commit billions to fight climate change

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, which was postponed a year because of COVID-19, has promoted a series of announcements from foundations and individuals attempting to pour money into efforts to fight climate change, an area many think philanthropy has neglected.

As policymakers from around the world gathered in Glasgow for a series of long-awaited meetings on climate change, a group of governments and private foundations announced plans to direct $1.7 billion to Indigenous and grassroots groups working to protect forests, a key strategy in absorbing carbon emissions.

“We need to get the money out the door,” said Kevin Currey, program officer for natural resources and climate change at the Ford Foundation.

Ford has committed $100 million to support Indigenous groups in securing land rights and conserving forest land. Other donors include the Christensen Fund, Sobrato Philanthropies, and the Good Energies, Hewlett, Oak, and Packard foundations. Included in the $1.7 billion commitment are pledges from the governments of Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States. Those donors are joined by nine other grant makers participating in the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, a 10-year, $5 billion commitment anchored by $1 billion from the Bezos Earth Fund.

(The Hewlett Foundation is a financial supporter of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.)

Separately, the Bezos Earth Fund committed a total of $2 billion to food-system transformation and landscape-restoration efforts to benefit the climate. The commitments come from a previous pledge by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to direct $10 billion to address climate change. The nutrition effort will support a range of activities, including raising crop yields while shrinking acreage devoted to farming, reducing food loss and waste, and helping to shift...