How 100 partners use philanthropic capital to propel public-private action on climate and nature
The Giving to Amplify Earth Action will catalyze greater philanthropic giving for climate action. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto
- Reducing human emissions and reversing nature loss is possible but the window is closing.
- An additional $3 trillion in funding needs to be sourced annually to achieve an equitable climate and nature transition by 2050.
- The World Economic Forum’s global effort, Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA), is creating a collaboration muscle to de-risk and unlock public and private finance for nature and climate, to shift markets and corporate practices at speed and scale.
Philanthropy’s impact in pre-competitive market spaces.
Among the $811 billion of global philanthropic giving in 2022, less than 2% was directed towards climate mitigation action. However, with the increasing urgency of the climate crisis, philanthropic institutions are signalling a willingness to step up their ambition and mobilize more funds to the places that need them most. Against this background, Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) is the Forum’s new muscle for public-private-philanthropic collaboration, which brings together a multistakeholder community of 100 members and co-chaired by Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the Forum, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, and Ray Dalio, founder and (former) chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates.
GAEA supports the transition of corporate practices and accelerates market transformation towards more sustainable business models and value chains. Its strategic objectives are:
- Leverage the catalytic power of philanthropic capital (more nimble, risk-tolerant, flexible, systemic, equitable and patient) and match it with the right public and private actors.
- Inspire philanthropists, corporate foundations and family offices to increase the amount of giving flowing to key systemic interventions across climate and nature.
- Establish a global collaboration muscle for foundations, development finance institutions, private investors, governments and first-mover companies to aggregate efforts and allow for scale, avoiding fragmentation and replication.
Philanthropy can be deployed to bridge the gap between giving away money to do good and investing capital to make good returns. That is where the big money and big impacts will come from.
”Through GAEA, we are seeing a new type of global collaboration where organizations from different walks of life choose to focus on the shared goal of combating climate change and come together to send a strong message to key markets. This is philanthropy extending a hand to the private sector and saying: “We are in this together; we are willing to help you transition your business models faster and at scale.
”To address the global challenges particularly related to climate and nature, governments and businesses have to work together. Even under optimal conditions, this collaboration will not be sufficient if we do not add a new financial muscle to bring philanthropy into this coalition. The public-private-philanthropic vehicle created with GAEA is the best hope to safeguard the well-being of future generations.
”Empowering smarter corporate commitments.
Corporate philanthropy can prove to be a key tool to channel resources into climate and nature causes, including private capital, talent, and expertise. However, only 6% of all global giving comes from corporations. To close this gap, GAEA is bringing together a community of corporate foundations and leading philanthropies to launch the Corporate Philanthropy Challenge for People and Planet to mobilize $1 billion of smart, catalytic capital towards climate and nature interventions by 2030.
Partners of the challenge include Ares Charitable Foundation, BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, Foundation S, Grundfos Foundation, Google.org, Salesforce, Temasek Trust, The Coca-Cola Foundation, Workday Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation, and the IKEA Foundation.
Corporates have many ways to continue to put resources into climate and nature solutions. From our treasury, our startup strategy, our procurement, our bonds and our corporate philanthropies, we are happy to join the GAEA corporate philanthropy challenge to inspire and encourage more corporate philanthropies to pivot into climate and nature solutions and keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius target alive and raising $1 billion of catalytic resources to drive new solutions.
”The next generation of big bets for the planet.
Building on the Analytical Framework for public-private-philanthropic partnerships (PPPPs) developed with GAEA’s knowledge partner McKinsey Sustainability and working closely with the Climate Leadership Initiative and ClimateWorks Foundation, GAEA launched the Big Bets Accelerator. The aim is to aggregate philanthropic resources to send a signal to public and private investors and amplify key PPPPs with the power to shift corporate practices faster and at scale.
At the Forum’s Annual Meeting 2024, GAEA announced it would help amplify existing PPPPs and explore new partnerships across 5 thematic areas: energy, nature, industry, food and climate intersections. In the field of energy transition, these include the Coal to Renewables Initiative to accelerate coal retirement and triple renewables, as well as the development of climate talent for energy transition. In the nature space, the amplification of the Mangroves Breakthrough Initiative and the exploration of a regionally-led PPPP around conservation, restoration and sustainable management of forest resources in the Amazon.
To tackle air pollution, it will turbocharge the Breathe Cities Initiative to unlock $300 million working with 100 mayors by 2030. Lastly, at the intersection of climate and humanitarian action, GAEA is partnering with the Humanitarian and Resilience Investing initiative to unlock funding to support governments and communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Lastly, GAEA’s partner ClimateWorks Foundation is exploring how leading climate philanthropies can scale up philanthropic efforts on industrial decarbonization and hopes to launch an effort later this year to accelerate the removal of carbon emissions in industry.
Philanthropies are looking for maximum impact, and this requires new ways of thinking. Each dollar granted needs to leverage additional funding, especially from the private sector. And, it all must be part of creating a movement for genuine change. This is what is so exciting about GAEA.
”Unlocking game-changing partnerships in Asia.
As philanthropy gains increasing relevance in Asia, GAEA and its regional partners are raising the bar and re-imaging its role in the region. Earlier this year, GAEA launched its first Asia thought leadership piece with the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA, by Temasek Trust) and ClimateWorks Foundation, identifying gaps and opportunities for Asian leaders to step up PPPP.
PAA was launched last September with over 80 global members and partners collectively pledging $777 million (1 billion SGD) to catalyse innovative solutions for global environmental and social challenges. In addition, the Institute for Sustainability & Technology (IST), GAEA’s new strategic partner in Hong Kong, is launching a One Earth impact investing alliance for Asia and Greater China, raising $3 billion in venture capital investment over the next three years for green innovation and tech start-ups.
Solving our global climate challenge must involve solving for Asia. This demands urgent collective action and bold innovation powered by catalytic capital. Global platforms like GAEA mobilize multi-sector partnerships to unlock Asia’s big bets in climate and nature. We invite like-minded partners with the same ambition and bias for action to forge a sustainable future with us.
”The COP28 Presidency fully recognises that addressing climate mitigation and adaptation is an enormous undertaking. With over 400 foundation heads from 82 countries participating, the COP28 Business & Philanthropy Climate Forum demonstrated that philanthropic capital will have an increasingly important role to play in catalysing business and government capital to meet these needs. As we look to COP29 and COP30, the collaboration with WEF and GAEA to turn pledges into action and implementation is invaluable.
”How can you get involved?
Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) is managed within the Forum’s Centre for Climate and Nature and aims to catalyze a new global movement to provide hope to keep our climate and nature targets alive – through concrete PPPPs to unlock the flow of investment, action and change of mindsets.
Join the conversation. Join the movement.
Companies and philanthropic organizations committed to building partnerships toward achieving a net zero green economy who are interested in contributing to the GAEA community are welcome to contact us.
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