The Rockefeller Foundation has announced that it will pursue a net-zero emissions target for its $6 billion endowment. According to its website, the proposal makes it the largest private US foundation to pursue a net zero endowment to date. 

It also announced aims to “contribute to the global decarbonisation effort, [and] accelerating the work needed to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement”.  

The foundation will report regularly on its efforts and bring both investors and experts “to advance broader collaboration towards net zero”, with the first such event scheduled for early 2024. 

“We are putting The Rockefeller Foundation’s money where our mission is: investing our endowment in ways that will help lift up people around the world and lower emissions,” said Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.  

“This change to our endowment strategy aligns with our recent billion-dollar commitment to advance the global climate transition and achieve net zero emissions across our global operations, and it is the final piece of our work to reimagine the Foundation’s philanthropy for the climate change era,” he said.  

“Ultimately, this is about more than our endowment; our ultimate objective is to drive real-world changes,” said Chun Lai, the Rockefeller Foundation’s chief investment officer, responsible for managing the $6 billion endowment. 

In September, the foundation announced an investment of $1 billion towards sustainable development goals (SDGs), the first time that the foundation is addressing SDGs as part of its philanthropic endeavours for the first time in its 110-year history. 

Helene Desanlis, director of climate philanthropy, Global Intelligence at ClimateWorks Foundation and Helen Mountford, president and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation, argue that the majority of philanthropic giving still goes toward causes other than ending the climate crisis. 

“As the world grapples with the stark reality of a planet that has been overheating about 40 per cent faster during the past 15 years than before, philanthropy must recognise that the greatest problems people face around the world aren’t isolated from, but rather deeply intertwined with, climate change,” they told Alliance.  

Total philanthropic giving reached an estimated $811 billion in 2022, of which less than 2 percent, or $7.8 billion to $12.8 billion, was directed to reducing the emissions that cause climate change.  

“Just for perspective, that’s roughly the same amount that Americans spent on Halloween decorations and candy this year,” they added.  

Shafi Musaddique is the news editor at Alliance magazine.