Philanthropists pledge millions to combat climate change

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to announcements from foundations and individuals trying to allocate money to the fight against climate change, an area that many think he has been neglected by philanthropy.

As leaders from around the world gathered in Glasgow for a series of long-awaited meetings on climate change, a host of governments and private foundations announced plans to allocate $ 1.7 billion to indigenous peoples and local communities working to protect forests, a key strategy to absorb carbon emissions.

This $ 1.7 billion commitment includes pledges from the governments of Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States.

“We have to release the money”Said Kevin Currey, program manager for natural resources and climate change at the Ford Foundation.

The Ford Foundation pledged $ 100 million to support indigenous groups in defending land rights and conserving forest lands.

Other donors include the Christensen Fund, Sobrato Philanthropies, and the Good Energies, Hewlett, Oak and Packard foundations.

These philanthropic groups are joined by nine others participating in the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, a $ 5 billion commitment over ten years, with $ 1 billion from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund.

Similarly, the Hewlett Foundation financially supports the publication specialized in philanthropy, The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Separately, the Bezos Land Fund pledged to allocate a total of $ 2 billion to transforming food systems and restoring landscapes to benefit the climate.

The commitments stem from an earlier promise by Bezos to earmark $ 10 billion to fight climate change.

The nutrition effort will support a variety of actions, such as increasing crop productivity and reducing the amount of land devoted to grazing, as well as reducing food loss and waste, and helping to change people’s diets to a more vegetarian.

Landscape work will focus on Africa and the United States, and will include tree planting and grassland revitalization, according to a press release.

Other recent climate pledges include $ 33 million from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, announced in October to support, among other things, entrepreneurs working on technologies to eliminate or reduce carbon emissions.

Also in October, 20 foundations said they would spend $ 223 million to reduce methane gas emissions.

In June, the Ikea and Rockefeller foundations said they would spend a total of $ 1 billion on renewable energy development, and more money may be on the way.

Philanthropic aid to tackle climate change was on the rise before the pandemic, said Larry Kramer, president of the Hewlett Foundation, which was involved in the methane reduction pledge. Momentum stalled when the pandemic raged and the Glasgow meetings were postponed.

Now that the meetings are taking place and the Biden administration has taken over from the Trump White House, which did not commit to the climate, there is a demand for action from philanthropy, he hinted. “There’s a kind of rekindled interest and focusAbout the weather, Kramer said.