Foundations have made “great progress” on plans to tackle climate change but have been hindered by the Covid-19 crisis, according to the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF).
Sixty organisations have signed up to the Funder Commitment on Climate Change since it launched in 2019, including Comic Relief, the Barrow Cadbury Trust and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.
The 60 manage total assets worth more than £4.7bn.
The Year One Report, published yesterday by the ACF and drawing on data from 44 signatories, found that the greatest progress had been made on committing resources to tackling and adapting the impact of climate change.
This is one of five key actions the funders have agreed to take, along with educating and learning about climate change solutions, integrating climate considerations into existing funding programmes, stewarding future investments, and decarbonising funders’ own operations.
Progress report
The report showed that 11 funders were at “an advanced stage” on committing resources to the cause, with another 22 reporting they had made “some progress”.
Education and learning scored similarly, ACF said, as did stewarding future investments.
Integrating climate into other work and decarbonising operations showed least progress of the five commitments, but ACF said that most funders still reported some work towards these goals.
Comic Relief told the report authors that, as part of work to decarbonise its operations, it was “exploring what travel will look like [in the future], recognising we can rely on local assessors / shortlisters / evaluators etc. a lot more, to support with grant management”.
Foundations have faced substantial pressures during the coronavirus crisis, including uncertainty about their own income and changing funding strategies to help charities survive the year.
As a result of these factors, the report said: “A number of foundations have not been able to commit the resources or make as much progress on the Funder Commitment as they had hoped during the year, and this is honestly acknowledged in several responses.”
Call for more signatories
Joanna Pienkowska, who leads ACF’s work on the Funder Commitment and is a coauthor of the report, said: “It is fantastic to see this many signatories publicly reporting back on their work on climate, and we’re pleased to see that despite the difficulties of this past year, there’s been great progress across all areas of the Commitment.
“ACF continues to engage and support signatories in implementing the Commitment by creating a space for learning and exchange.”
Pienkowska called on more foundations to sign up to the scheme.
Nick Perks, the report’s other author, said that the movement was “sparking interest amongst foundations and philanthropy networks around the world”.
He said: “This report demonstrates that UK signatories have begun turning their pledges into action.
“In the run up to the COP26 Glasgow climate summit, it’s an ideal time for other foundations to join in with this collective effort.”
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