The World Economic Forum, supported by more than 45 partners launched the Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA), a global initiative to fund and grow new and existing public, private and philanthropic partnerships (PPPPs) to help unlock the $3 trillion of financing needed each year to reach net zero, reverse nature loss and restore biodiversity by 2050.
With the energy and cost of living crises, the ambition of steering the planet towards a 1.5-degree Celsius warming pathway hangs in the balance. Meanwhile, the recent agreement at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15) in Montreal to conserve 30% of all earth and sea looks bold but fragile in the face of a rising biodiversity crisis. Current funding is slow and inadequate, and a new approach is needed to get capital flowing. Philanthropic giving can address this, with unique qualities not found in other financing: it is nimble, more tolerant of risks and is driven by values and long-term outcomes rather than quarterly returns.
“We are at a tipping point in our efforts to put the planet back on track to meet our climate ambitions. To reach the speed and scale required to heal the Earth’s systems, we need to unlock not only private capital and government funds, but also the philanthropy sector as a truly catalytic force to achieve the necessary acceleration,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.
GAEA’s growing body of philanthropic partners includes: Active Philanthropy, the African Climate Foundation, André Hoffmann Family Office, the Arab Foundations Forum, Bezos Earth Fund, BMW Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Clean Air Fund, Climate Leadership Initiative, ClimateWorks Foundation, Eleven Eleven Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Growald Climate Fund, IKEA Foundation, Laudes Foundation, Noa’s Ark Foundation, Open Society Foundations, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Pearl Initiative, Philanthropy Asia Alliance (by Temasek Trust), Philea, The Rockefeller Foundation, Trottier Family Foundation, United Nations Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, WINGS, Workday Foundation.
Individuals, academic institutions, companies and public sector organizations supporting the initiative include: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Capital for Climate, Carbon Direct, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the University of Cambridge, Climate-KIC, Crescent Enterprises, Government of Egypt, HCLTech through their chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra, McKinsey Sustainability, Ocean14, Prince Maximilian von und zu Liechtenstein – Chairman of the Board LGT Group, Salesforce, Singapore University for Social Sciences, Stanford University Center for Ocean Solutions, Strategic Philanthropy Initiative at NYU Abu Dhabi, UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, We Mean Business Coalition, World Association of PPP Units & PPP Professionals.
In recent years, philanthropic funding for climate change has grown, but it still makes up less than 2% of all philanthropic giving, which is expected to reach $810 billion in 2021. Giving more money to climate and nature won’t take away from other social priorities; it will help them. Rajiv Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, recently said, “Climate change is the single biggest threat to humanity. We must directly address climate change while redoubling our efforts in our traditional programme areas: health, energy, food, and fairness.”
Over the next year, GAEA will work with founding members to build momentum around three clear goals, with the help of McKinsey Sustainability as a knowledge partner.
Over the next 12 months, supported by McKinsey Sustainability as a knowledge partner, GAEA will work with founding members to build momentum around three clear objectives:
- Convene leaders from the public, private and philanthropic sectors to identify and target climate and nature solutions where they are best positioned to play a catalytic role;
- Pilot and refine funding models that can support PPPP interventions;
- Scale up and replicate successful approaches to new sectors, regions and actors.
GAEA will build on what has already worked. For example, the Clean Cooling Collaborative, which was started with $10 million in philanthropic funding in 2016 and has raised more than $600 million in public and private funds to improve access to low-carbon cooling and help prevent 4.2 gigatons of CO2 emissions by 2050, was started with $10 million in philanthropic funding.
Similarly, the Government of the Seychelles has used philanthropic funding, public loan guarantees, and private investment to raise $15 million through a “blue bond” and turn $22 million of government debt into conservation funding to protect 13 marine areas that are bigger than Germany.