Philanthropy’s transformative role in climate-integrated development

Each year, Earth Day celebrates the collective commitment of our governments, industry, and civil society to fighting the ‘triple planetary crisis’ – climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. It also serves as a stark reminder of how much more needs to be done. This year’s theme is ’Invest in Our Planet’, highlighting the urgency and criticality of dedicating adequate, at-scale, and timely resources that are needed for a sustainable, equitable, and climate-resilient future.   

To make this happen, we need to act now to reduce emissions, build resilience and adaptive capacity, and ensure equitable transitions for vulnerable communities across the world. India alone is estimated to need USD 170 billion a year of capital to achieve its climate targets. However, currently tracked finance in India is less than a fourth of the amount required just to meet our mitigation goals under our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); adaptation finance flows are even scarcer.

Quality, not just the quantum of funding

The resources we require seem staggering, and yet, the global and collective responsibility for this effort means we can rally diverse sources of sustainable finance – including public, concessional, grant, development, and private capital – to meet climate goals. Infusing innovation in the way we channel these different types of capital towards relevant solutions, sectors, or systems will enable philanthropy to unlock other kinds of capital for scale and impact. It is therefore critical to prioritize the quality of funding we mobilize, and not just the quantum.  

In this context, the power of philanthropic capital – if strategically leveraged and channeled – can be transformational. It has an extremely unique and differentiated role to play in advancing climate action. It is relatively unconstrained, has flexible use cases, and is inherently compassionate. Nimbler than government or concessional capital and more patient and risk-tolerant than private capital, it can be directed towards catalytic, impactful solutions that remain severely underfunded. 

Directing philanthropy towards these bottlenecks in the climate ecosystem is a powerful tool in enabling longer-term systemic work that relies upon the building of cross-sector coalitions, the use of innovative technologies or policies, and enhancing grassroots capacity. Importantly, given how intertwined philanthropy is with India’s development history and how extensive its reach is with grassroots organizations and communities, it is uniquely positioned to consider India’s existing development priorities, addressing climate and development goals in tandem. 

Roles for philanthropic capital 

As critical as philanthropic funding is to climate efforts, its catalytic potential can only be unlocked if it is strategic and systemic and embraces several levers of impact across the ecosystem. Here are five potential ways.

First, philanthropy can support foundational research and knowledge infrastructure. One of the most critical enablers for effective and coordinated climate action is credible data. There is; however, a dearth of such climate data in India, particularly granular, regional, and context-specific research that is indispensable for effective problem-solving in a country as vast and diverse as ours – and philanthropic capital is best suited to make these foundational investments. 

A prime example is the Climate Risk Atlas for India, a comprehensive, district-wise climate risk assessment covering critical risks and vulnerabilities, including extreme weather events, urban heat stress, water stress, crop loss, vector-borne disease, and biodiversity collapse. This first-of-its-kind, grant-funded, multi-stakeholder initiative will provide granular data that is necessary to map regional vulnerabilities, empowering local government and communities to build resilience and adaptive capacity against climate risks. 

Second, philanthropy can fund ‘Lighthouse Initiatives’ that create important proof-points (for instance, through pilots and evidence creation), allowing for the establishment of new markets, and the de-risking of solutions, spaces or technologies for follow-on funding. In India, philanthropically funded work by the World Resources Institute (WRI) has helped galvanise industry around future carbon-markets. By facilitating carbon-market simulations, documenting learnings, and creating a space for shared experiences, it has helped build greater confidence in Indian industry to engage more deeply with carbon markets. 

Third, philanthropy can support systemic work that nurtures and strengthens the climate ecosystem by supporting capacity building for the foot soldiers of the climate movement. It can help create templates for impact measurement metrics and frameworks that can be used widely to advance and report on climate action; and increase access and availability of climate change knowledge to these grassroots organisations and communities. For instance, to address rural water insecurity, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) is working to develop a water diagnostic toolkit that uses open-source data to create digital tools that enable well-rounded, community management programs. This toolkit will help with the creation and validation of use cases for how data can be used to improve water security (for instance, using digital tools to estimate the water balance of a watershed or a gram panchayat) for better designed solution. As part of this work, ATREE’s Centre for Social and Environmental Innovation (CSEI) launched Jaltol in November 2021, a free, open-source QGIS plug-in tool that simplifies water balance estimation in grassroots communities. 

Fourth, philanthropy can support climate-friendly policy reform and provide technical assistance to implement such policies, bringing relevant stakeholders together. For example, while several stakeholders are working on air quality issues in India, there are several gaps hindering system-wide partnerships across government, civil society, and academia. Informed by a database of over 350 actors in over 100 cities and 16 countries, the India Clean Air Connect is an initiative to bring the air quality ecosystem together; this can increase knowledge-sharing and regional collaborations, amplify efforts towards clean air across geographies, and ignite an urgent call to action to tackle the severe air quality crisis in India.  

Finally, philanthropy can help shape people’s action on climate change, by funding work that demystifies the sector’s movements for change and action. The ‘Faces of Climate Resilience’, a documentary series created by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water and Drokpa Films, is a good case study of how philanthropic funding can support strategic climate communications campaigns. Comprising 16 stories of communities most affected by climate change, the series shows how they build resilience to impacts, combining human stories with credible research on extreme weather events. This has been screened across the country, and at COP27, Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, and won an award at the Documentaries Without Borders Film Festival, 2023. Successful climate communications campaigns play a crucial role in increasing public awareness and can compel action. 

Where we are today on climate philanthropy

An increasing number of philanthropic institutions are beginning to recognise the urgency of acting on climate change, and the complex intersections and linkages between climate and development priorities. While this momentum is encouraging, the share of total global philanthropy dedicated to climate change mitigation remains under two percent annually.

The good news is that there is growing commitment to climate philanthropy in India, with pioneers like Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, which has invested approximately USD 3.5 million (approximately INR 29 crores) in climate and biodiversity since 2019, Rainmatter Foundation, which has committed USD 200 million to environment and climate, and Edelgive Foundation’s GROW for Climate Fund. We need to build on the work of these pioneers and make ‘giving for climate action’ a national movement. 

And yet, so much more needs to be done. We need the domestic philanthropic ecosystem to build greater ambition for climate finance and leadership. On the mitigation front, philanthropists can help deliver India’s NDCs. For example, an urgent priority is to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors like cement, steel, and ammonia; philanthropic capital can provide patient support for research and development for low-emissions technology at pilot stages and attract more finance from public and private sectors for viable solutions. In terms of adaptation, philanthropy can build adaptive capacity given the rate at which climate change is already impacting livelihoods, education, healthcare, food security, and women. With a deep understanding of equity, philanthropic leadership on climate can foster an inclusive narrative that recognises the unique challenges and developmental priorities of India and the Global South – and build a climate-integrated development narrative for a more sustainable future.

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