Photo by Comunidad #PorElClima on Flickr
By Erika Miller, Head of Climate at WINGS
The contentious conclusion of the 29th UN Climate Conference (COP29) last week in Baku, Azerbaijan, served as a grave reminder of the urgent need to transform the systems that are meant to save our planet.
Coming into COP29, the mood was subdued due to Azerbaijan’s status as a petro state with a troubling fossil fuel narrative and the government’s suppression of civic space, freedom of speech and heavy control over activism. Additionally, this year’s climate disasters, including the devastating floods in Spain, extreme hurricanes in the USA, wildfires that ravaged the Brazilian Rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, Phillippines’s most active typhoon season yet, and global droughts affecting major rivers including the Amazon, La Plata and the Zambezi have left a large part of the world to deal with the crippling economic and social impacts of the climate crisis. The high stakes for this year’s climate negotiations were a matter of life and death for society for many, and the outcomes majorly missed the mark.
One of this year’s central focuses of the negotiations was establishing a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) — a framework to determine who pays, who receives, how much funding is needed, and how it should flow. As negotiations dragged on, the hopes for an equitable and urgent deal seemed to slip further away. The conference’s final hours were marked by tension and controversy. With the first text proposing only $250 billion annually for climate finance, negotiations were on the brink of collapse as island states and least-developed countries (LDCs) walked out. In a last-ditch effort to salvage the talks, the Presidency pursued an opaque process marred by power imbalances and a lack of equitable participation. By early Sunday, as Parties were pressured to save multilateralism, the final incoherent and ambiguous text was adopted, setting an annual finance goal of at least $300 billion until 2035. This outcome was widely criticised by countries like India, Nigeria, Cuba, and Bolivia as inadequate, unjust and a disrespectful abdication of responsibility by developed nations. This final amount barely represents 12% of the estimated financing needs for developing countries to urgently mitigate and adapt to climate change. To top it off, the outcomes of this COP largely dismiss loss and damage, have regressed on the fossil fuel phase-out, and do the bare minimum for adaptation.
The end of COP29 reaffirmed an overwhelming feeling that this process is no longer fit for purpose and needs a transformative overhaul. In an open letter to the UNFCCC, a group of climate professionals highlighted that, while the Paris Agreement gives us a strong framework to work with, the current ways of implementation are not responding to the acute needs of those most affected by climate change. What is needed is a change in the outlook of developed countries so that they commit to and deliver on more ambitious targets that centre equity and justice.
This transformation needs to happen fast, and philanthropy must remain engaged, using all its assets and tools to drive systemic change and help achieve collective climate goals. Below are three key takeaways for philanthropy from COP29 as we set our sights on COP30.
1. The multilateral system needs a broader understanding of philanthropy
This year’s COP29 Presidency and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion hosted the second Business, Investment, and Philanthropy Climate Platform (BIPCP), emphasising a strong focus on finance in enabling a just transition to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Actors from different areas of the private sector came together to exchange ideas and explore innovative ways to mobilise finance for climate action. Participation leaned heavily towards businesses and investors, with limited participation/inclusion of philanthropy. The forum’s discussions revealed a need to expand the platform’s understanding of philanthropy as a sector and its potential as an active agent of systemic change.
The philanthropy sector was primarily framed as a mechanism for moving money, sidelining its broader roles as a systems changer, influencer, and bridge builder between local realities and global governance. Moreover, the speakers representing philanthropy lacked diversity, failing to reflect the global sector’s rich ecosystem, which includes community foundations, local funds, and grassroots initiatives operating in vastly different contexts. Recognising and leveraging this diversity is critical for unlocking solutions that reflect different realities. The recently launched policy brief by Casa Fund Community philanthropy and locally-led adaptation solutions: lessons learned from the Global South demonstrates the strengths of philanthropies that were not present enough in the BIPCP conversations.
Beyond being just a holder and distributor of capital, philanthropy can afford to take on risks that other financiers cannot to pilot ideas, support processes that identify data and knowledge gaps and inform responses and policies that tackle structural challenges. It is also a proven bridge builder, bringing important networks and political capital across sectors with communities to play the role of enabler and convenor between different stakeholders to create constructive dialogue for change.
When its strategic capabilities are acknowledged—including its ability to drive systemic change and influence policy—philanthropy can push for climate action that is both bold and systemic in nature. To ensure ambitious progress ahead of COP30, philanthropy must advocate for its broader potential and governments should engage with diverse actors within the sector. Some valuable lessons can be learned from the latest Philanthropy & Sustainable Development Working Group that developed G20 recommendations as part of the official C20 civil society grouping.
2. Philanthropy’s role in bridging the climate finance gap
The time for our sector to step up is more urgent now than ever before. Regardless of funding priorities, all foundations need to commit to integrating climate action into their practices and bringing our sector’s climate financing well above the dire 2% figure. With the NCQG falling very short of the amount needed by developing countries, more sources of capital will be required in large amounts to help ensure they can both mitigate and adapt to climate change. While philanthropy can’t make a huge financial contribution to the USD 1.3 trillion needed annually, it can and must move more funds in the form of grants that will allow developing countries to address their acute development needs without accumulating more debt. Targeted investments in women, youth, indigenous and grassroots organisations in the Global South are crucial, as these groups are often at the forefront of equitable climate solutions with unique capabilities to scale such initiatives and their impacts.
Additionally, even with a new goal accessing international climate finance remains a significant challenge for frontline Indigenous and local communities due to the bureaucratic inefficiencies of mechanisms like the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund. Philanthropy can serve as a critical conduit for bridging this gap. Whether by advocating for simplified access to these funds, supporting local intermediaries to navigate complex systems, or redefining “direct access” to include grassroots mechanisms, the sector has the unique potential to drive resources to where they’re most needed.
Beyond the funding, we must also transform our philanthropic practices for a new paradigm of problem-solving and collective action underpinned by behaviour change. The Philanthropy For Climate movement proposes an intersectional and multi-pillared approach that focuses on supporting local leadership and removing barriers to climate action. In Baku, the Arab Foundations Forum launched the Arab Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change which sets a pathway for this new paradigm of climate philanthropy rooted in the intersectional nature of climate and development crises in the region.
3. Coordinating collaborative climate action beyond the COP cycle
Climate action cannot be confined to the annual COP events. While these conferences serve as critical milestones, transformative work must happen year-round. Many philanthropic organisations are doing exemplary work to drive more climate action.
However, our sector still works in silos defined by funding priorities, geographies, and ways of working. We must consider how our actions can be strengthened by moving towards coordinated collaboration as a sector, thinking long term to develop a series of actions that will unlock other opportunities for systemic transformation on climate.
Philanthropy has a vital role to play in the lead-up to COP30. With governments expected to submit updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in February, philanthropy needs to support higher ambition for plans that are science-based, aligned with the 1.5°C target, and rooted in justice and equity. By funding advocacy efforts, occupying spaces of influence, building the technical capacity of decision-makers, and amplifying and encouraging the inclusion of historically excluded voices, we can bring discussions together and ensure that civil society is continuously at the decision-making table. We must ensure that national discussions honour country commitments to global climate governance and reflect the differentiated responsibility of developed countries.
Alongside the Climate COP, 2024 featured the Biodiversity COP in Cali, Colombia and the Desertification COP which is upcoming in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There is room for philanthropy to play an increasing role in connecting the dots between these three important moments for climate governance and ensuring that civil society’s voices are included and its needs are considered in decision-making. By engaging continuously and in coordinated collaboration with other actors, philanthropy can drive sustained momentum and accountability for climate action.
Looking Forward
The outcomes of COP29 have deepened distrust in the multilateral system. Rebuilding this trust and creating a more just and effective climate governance process must be a top priority for COP30 in Brazil.
Philanthropy must step into its full potential—not just as a funder, but as a connector, systems thinker, and advocate for a just and inclusive climate future. We cannot accept our weak multilateral systems as the best we have. Instead, we must invest in transforming ourselves, and these systems into mechanisms that redress historical inequity and work for those most impacted by the climate crisis.
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While philanthropy’s presence at this year’s COP was smaller than in past years—and less than what’s already anticipated for COP30—there were many notable contributions worth highlighting including:
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If you have more important updates on the participation and contributions of philanthropy at COP29, please share them with us.
Erika’s previous experience includes working with INGOs and leading the Canadian PhilanthropyForClimate movement. She believes in the power of strong partnerships for addressing our world’s most complex challenges. Erika has a BA in Global Development and is currently pursuing her MSc in Climate Change and Development at SOAS.
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