7 Reasons for Hope on Climate Change: Why Philanthropy Must Act

It’s easy to feel frightened and hopeless about climate change when observing wildfires like the ones raging in California or like the hurricanes that ravaged Texas and Puerto Rico months ago. Such disasters tragically lay bare something we’ve known for a long time: Climate change is intensifying, with dire consequences for people, communities, and economies around the world.

Yet through both of our foundations’ work to find and support solutions to climate change, we see reasons for hope that humanity can still overcome the problem of climate change. The combined efforts of grant makers, nonprofits, and governments, increasingly joined by businesses, have made tremendous progress in the past decade.

And while there is still a long way to go, we are anything but dispirited and believe now is the moment to act. This is why the ClimateWorks Foundation was founded, and it’s also why the Hewlett Foundation has just announced that it will donate $600 million, the largest dollar commitment in the foundation’s 51-year-history, to a wide array of organizations working on climate-change solutions over the next five years.

Here are seven reasons for hope:

The momentum has turned.

World leaders have united in a global agreement, and with the help of philanthropy over the past 10 years, the planet has already made substantial progress. When the field of climate philanthropy was forming more than 10 years ago, the world was on track for a global average temperature increase of 5 to 6° Celsius by the end of the century, which would have had a catastrophic impact on people and the planet. Since then, nations around the world have pledged to reduce emissions enough to limit warming to near 3° C by 2100. This will solve half the problem.

Philanthropic support for policy analysis and advocacy, clean-energy development, providing scientific and other advice to government, and efforts to rally public engagement helped make that possible. It’s not enough, and there’s much more to do, but this is remarkable considering the scale and complexity of the problem and the reality that powerful interests continue to fight climate action.

Advances in wind and solar, batteries, lighting, and many other technologies are making climate-friendly options inexpensive and attractive.

Renewable energy is now as cheap or cheaper than fossil fuels in most places, attracting significant capital and driving ambitious clean-energy goals. This is particularly evident in countries like China and India, which are acting aggressively to curb climate change and combat air pollution. China will spend $360 billion on renewable energy by 2020, creating 13 million new jobs; India is eight years ahead of its goal to produce 40 percent of its energy from nonfossil fuels and wants every car sold in that country to be electric by 2030.

Philanthropy can stimulate investments in clean-energy technology around the world by supporting cost analyses of the options and promoting citizen engagement and gatherings of the public, utilities, and power producers.

Cities and states are playing indispensable roles as leaders and laboratories for climate solutions.

In the United States alone, 386 mayors have committed to honoring the Paris climate agreement.

Twenty-nine states have set renewable-energy targets. The opportunities for economic growth easily transcend red or blue: Texas, Iowa, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Kansas are leading the nation in generating wind energy, and 31 U.S. cities have committed to getting to 100 percent renewable energy.

The California legislature recently broke new ground in climate policy by passing the Buy Clean Act, which rewards clean industrial facilities and closes a loophole that allowed countries to evade importing countries’ carbon standards; the positive effect of this policy will extend far beyond California’s borders. Philanthropy has a critical role to play in supporting this type of leadership at the state level. Grant makers can support organizations that provide expertise that states and others need to meet energy targets, as well as to groups that build public-private partnerships that save government money and build local economies.

Businesses have become leading players in combating climate change.

Nearly half of 2016’s Fortune 500 companies have set climate or clean-energy targets. Dozens — including GM, Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, Walmart, and Wells Fargo — have committed to using 100 percent renewable energy for their operations. Better still, businesses increasingly recognize the need to consider and disclose the impact of climate change on their operations. More than 100 leading global banks, insurers, and investors, representing more than $3 trillion of combined market capitalization, have pledged to support international guidelines for voluntary financial disclosures of exposure to climate-related risks, making the financial system more resilient and accelerating climate progress. Philanthropic support for mobilizing business leaders is critical.

Even as markets recognize climate-related risk, new opportunities — for investors, businesses, and consumers — abound.

Examples are legion. Take new technologies and trends in mobility, for example. Thanks to improvements in battery technology, coupled with policies to encourage the use of electric vehicles, there are 100 times as many electric vehicles today as there were in 2010. This growth shows no signs of abating, especially when supported by forward-looking public policies, such as Norway’s pledge to phase out all fossil-fuel-powered automobiles by 2025 and China’s new requirements for carmakers to sell more alternative-energy cars. Our mobility systems are on the cusp of massive progress, creating opportunities and benefits on multiple fronts: Philanthropic investments can help catalyze further private clean investments and even boost nations in making and meeting global agreements.

In developing nations, public and philanthropic investors are creating enormous opportunity by using relatively small amounts of capital to unlock private financing for clean-energy projects.

International development banks and green banks (public-private partnerships whose purpose is to make resources available for low-carbon projects) are using pools of public money to attract private investment to fund renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other projects that benefit the climate and improve people’s lives.

These projects are reducing barriers to entry for business, energizing markets for clean energy, and providing investors with opportunities for sizable returns.

And in India, China, and Africa, where new cities are springing up, opportunities for climate progress are even greater. Incorporating new technology and forward-looking design in housing, land-use, waste, transit, and (of course) energy systems will save residents money; aid economic development; provide cleaner, safer living environments; and deliver enormous climate benefits.

We see signs of hope in protecting and restoring forests to stave off carbon pollution.

Scientists, governments, farmers, and businesses are finding new ways to restore large swaths of degraded land from overfarming by growing forests to produce fruits, fuel, or wood for construction — including cross-laminated timber, a new material strong enough to replace steel or concrete.

Latin American and Caribbean nations have pledged to restore more than 49 million acres of degraded land by 2020, a move that will reap $23 billion in benefits over 50 years while removing carbon from the atmosphere. Charitable giving can help create local, on-the-ground organizations to provide examples of successful change and training programs to connect governments with researchers and experts.

This week, leading climate philanthropists met in Paris with President Macron and other world leaders to celebrate the second anniversary of the historic Paris climate agreement and help set a course for how philanthropy can do even more. Businesses, governments, and philanthropies pledged billions of dollars in additional commitments to combat climate change at the meeting.

This momentum will build through next September, when Gov. Jerry Brown and Michael Bloomberg bring together state and local leaders, businesses, nonprofits, and philanthropists at the Global Climate Action Summit to demonstrate the power of action on solving the climate challenge.

Gathering moments like these remind us of the progress made so far and inspire philanthropy to go even bigger in helping to solve climate change. We owe ourselves — not to mention our children, our grandchildren, and their grandchildren — nothing less.

Larry Kramer is president of the Hewlett Foundation and Charlotte Pera is president of the ClimateWorks Foundation.