In 2021, Eric St-Pierre, the Executive Director of the Trottier Family Foundation of Montreal, made a simple but striking statement to me as I was interviewing him for my book on Canadian foundations, From Charity To Change: “If we don’t figure out climate, nothing else matters”.
A major recent announcement from the Foundation demonstrates how seriously it takes this idea.
“We are at a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change, with only a limited window to mobilize the capital necessary to meet this generational challenge. In response, we are increasing our grant allocations and partially spending down our endowment to support the charities and initiatives working to advance net-zero pathways in Canada.”
The Trottier Foundation made this announcement in collaboration with eight other private foundations and donors who are committing $405 million as Climate Champions, “the largest philanthropic contribution to climate solutions in Canadian history”. These foundations and donors are hoping to catalyze commitments by other donors to action on climate, in the face of a low funding commitment by the philanthropic community so far. The effort to galvanize climate philanthropy is coordinated through a platform, the Clean Economy Fund, a pooled fund established some years ago by the Ivey Foundation, a long-time philanthropic donor to climate action, which has made its own galvanizing commitment to spend all of its endowment by 2027.
The funds being committed are important. Indeed, they triple the amount of philanthropic dollars committed to climate philanthropy according to the Clean Economy Fund. But how will they be deployed? The CEF identifies five areas where philanthropic dollars can have the most impact: clean energy and electrification; industry and economy; cities; policy and finance; and people and democracy. Each of the donors who have collectively committed $405 million will fund climate action across one or more of these areas.
If you look deeper into the five areas, the money is being spread across them based on the distribution of the limited dollars committed so far. But how much is going to funding for “people and democracy”, described by Climate Champions as “support for the populations who are at disproportionate risk or face more costs because of climate change”? This includes Indigenous communities, rural communities and low-income urban communities. It’s not clear how much is going to this area. And this takes us to the question of Canadian philanthropy’s role in climate justice.
Does philanthropy have a special role and obligation to work on the consequences of climate change through climate justice? A new publication (in French) from the Fondation de France focuses on the challenges faced by philanthropy in supporting a just transition. As the Fondation de France argues, the climate crisis has multiple dimensions: socioeconomic, democratic, geopolitical. To be effective, philanthropy must take a systemic view of how many factors are playing into ever-increasing carbon emissions and ever more catastrophic climate impacts. This seems daunting. One answer for systemic philanthropic action is to work more closely with people on the ground, in communities, who are trying to change their own circumstances and environments.
What does this mean in practice? Philea, the European philanthropy network, underlining the existential urgencies and the growing public distrust in how established institutions are dealing with the social, economic and environmental crisis, puts it this way: “This means working in partnership with other sectors to bring marginalised and vulnerable groups into decision-making processes about land use and environmental policy. It means taking steps to fundamentally shift the priorities within the capitalist system, positioning sustainability as a primary and non-negotiable objective, rather than continuing the unrestrained exploitation of natural resources for profit. And as part of these efforts, it means fostering a balanced dialogue that acknowledges past injustices, including the dispossession of Indigenous lands, and seeks to respect both communities and the environment moving forward.”
How to do this in Canada? One way is through collaborative work to extend philanthropic dollars. Another is to work more closely with intermediaries who direct the funds into grassroots and community-led climate action. An example of this in the United States is The Solutions Project, created in 2013 with the contributions of many funders and now largely funding women of colour-led frontline organizations working on climate justice. In Canada, we have the opportunity to fund many organizations working with Indigenous communities directly on climate solutions, such as Nature United, MakeWay, and the NWT Project Finance for Permanence. Philanthropy can fund research and policy on the development of natural climate solutions, in many cases stewarded by Indigenous and rural communities across Canada. We also have funder platforms working on climate solutions at the grassroots such as Small Change Fund, and funders supporting young environmental activists through The Starfish Canada, and AquaAction. Environment Funders Canada is supporting the Building Power for Climate and Nature Collaborative for funders interested in prioritizing equitable engagement, empowering grassroots, and strategic grant-making.
These are just some ways in which Canadian funders are beginning to come together to support “people and democracy” in the effort to act on the climate crisis. The Climate Champions are telling us that even more is needed. Philanthropists must ask themselves the searching question of how to apply those dollars? What is Canadian philanthropy’s best role and use in this crisis? The answer may be to weigh even more heavily the funds towards actions that empower people and communities.