Report: climate philanthropy needs to dramatically increase

Less than 2% of global philanthropic funding is dedicated to addressing the climate crisis, a report from ClimateWorks shows. This level of climate philanthropy is not nearly enough to meet the scale of the global challenge that we face. 

The report compared data from 2019 and 2020 and found that while the entrance of new donors and commitments led to a 14% increase in global philanthropic giving to mitigate the effects of climate change, it is still far below the level needed given the growing urgency of the climate crisis.

The report found that globally, an estimated $750 billion in philanthropic dollars were donated to all causes in 2020, of which approximately $8 billion was focused on climate change solutions. This is an increase from the roughly $7 billion that was dedicated to climate change in 2019 out of $730 billion in overall giving. While this increase is encouraging, it is not growing fast enough.

The authors of the report stress the importance of philanthropy, noting that it can increase global ambition, support innovative solutions, scale proven mitigation strategies, and drive collaborative actions. It can support frontline advocacy and encourage unique collaborations that bring together voices from the public, private, and civil society sectors to solve the climate crisis.