The “massive boost” in climate commitments from governments, philanthropic organizations, and corporations around last year’s 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference convey the sense of urgency felt around the world as the impacts of climate change become more evident, according to ClimateWorks Foundation President and CEO Helen Mountford. However, she said it is critical that they are actually fulfilled and do not become another example of “greenwashing.”
Mountford stepped in as head of ClimateWorks last month after most recently serving as vice president of climate and economics at World Resources Institute and spending nearly two decades at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. During a wide-ranging interview with Devex, she laid out her vision for ClimateWorks, which is a nonprofit organization with a team of researchers, strategists, and grant-makers, among others.
The Pro read: ClimateWorks' new CEO Helen Mountford talks climate accountability
Helen Mountford lays out her vision for the organization, which includes making sure equity and accountability are prioritized in global efforts to address climate change.
At the top of Mountford’s goals lists are ambitions to increase philanthropic funding for climate change mitigation and ensure that ClimateWorks helps to implement and track COP 26 commitments. Included among those pledges was the International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change spearheaded by WINGS, a network of philanthropic groups.
A coalition of several governments and 17 private funders also announced plans to make a five-year, $1.7 billion commitment to fund Indigenous and local communities working to protect tropical forests. And a separate coalition of foundations and financial institutions launched an initiative to raise $100 billion in public and private capital to invest in renewable energy.
With the “rush” to form coalitions around COP 26, however, it is important that there be coordination, Mountford said. If the coalitions are not “well-coordinated and structured,” there is the risk that they might duplicate work or head into the wrong direction.
She noted that there are about eight years left to “really halve emissions by 2030” and that “radical collaboration” will be key to delivering on commitments quickly. COP 26 pledges must be fulfilled otherwise they are “just the greenwashing that some were worried they’d turn out to be,” Mountford said.
She said that she wants ClimateWorks to be at the forefront of helping to implement those commitments. Part of that work will be identifying how ClimateWorks can contribute, which may include bringing together philanthropists and others working in the space to see where coordination might be possible, she said. There is a need to bring together not just philanthropic funders, but also public sector funders that are aiming to, for example, help countries transition to renewable energy, according to Mountford.
Mountford said she’d also like to see ClimateWorks help usher in more philanthropic funding. Recent data from ClimateWorks has shown that less than 2% of global philanthropy funding has gone toward mitigating climate change.
“To me, philanthropy is really exciting because it is a space where you can actually use funds really strategically to complement or to fill gaps or to really sort of innovate and move things forward, which aren't gonna happen in the private sector or the public sector,” she said.
Mountford said that under her leadership ClimateWorks will continue to provide philanthropic organizations with resources that will help them fulfill climate priorities such as its research on climate needs and opportunities to channel their funding through targeted programs such as the Climate and Land Use Alliance, which provides funding for forest conservation and restoration and sustainable land use.
The alliance is housed at ClimateWorks but its membership includes several other funders such as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
The goal of these types of collaborative efforts is to make sure that “what we're doing adds up to more than just the parts of what individuals are doing and that we’re avoiding overlaps, competition, etc.,” Mountford said.
About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
