The Movements Trust established a pooled, accessible fund for climate activists at this year’s Climate Justice Camp in Lebanon.  

The camp brought together 500 climate justice advocates and campaigners this summer from across the Middle East and beyond. Candidates were selected by the Greenpeace Roots team from over 5,000 applications. 

The Movements Trust says funds will support the movements that attended, and ultimately emerge from, this year’s Climate Justice Camp. 

An advisory panel will have oversight of the distribution of the grants, made up of attendees from Sub Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia.  

The pooled fund will be open to donations until the application window for grants closes at the end of 2023. A baseline target of £200,000 will ensure the pilot can deliver at least 25-40 micro grants to grassroots groups all over the world. 

The Movements Trust, a UK based charity, says its aim is to help shift the philanthropy sector to better serve those most affected by the climate crisis. 

According to the latest reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world needs to increase green investment by three to six times current levels in order to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees and avert runaway, catastrophic climate change.

Suzanne Biegel, co-founder and trustee of Heading for Change, an endowment investing at the dual intersection of climate and gender, believes philanthropy must “address the flow of capital across the entire global finance system away from fossil fuels and towards effective climate solutions”.

“The capital we need is out there, but we’re not connecting the dots as well as we need to be. Philanthropists can see that,” she told Alliance. “It’s why we invest in advocacy, policy, and grassroots action. And it’s why we also need to be using our capital to catalyse markets with positive impact.”

Shafi Musaddique is news editor at Alliance magazine.  

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