Our first Climate Report to discover

While the preservation of the environment has been one of the Foundation’s challenges since its creation, in particular through the Sustainable Food axis, two years ago we were keen to initiate and support a vast philanthropic movement in the fight against climate change. From Madrid to Paris, from Brussels to Rome, from London to Rio, more than 460 foundations around the world have committed to adopting structural measures, regardless of their field of intervention. As signatories of this manifesto, we are sharing today our first assessment of actions.

7 pillars of engagement

” As part of its commitments to contribute to the fight against climate change and its environmental and social consequences, our Executive Committee has decided to continue supporting the various coalitions and pilot projects in 2022-2023. It also approved the creation of a cross-cutting “Just and Ecological Transition” axis as part of the 2024 – 2028 strategy. To do this, the Foundation will take the time for consultation and shared reflection in order to build this new area of commitment.” This is the beginning of the Foundation’s 1st^{Climate Report.} As warning signs and crises multiply, it is no longer debatable that human activities are the sole cause of global warming. We must all act.

A little over a year ago, we participated in the launch of coalitions and manifestos around the world to encourage philanthropic actors to mobilize and adopt structural measures to concretely fight against the causes and effects of climate change. Today, we present our first Climate Report detailing the actions implemented according to the different “pillars”:

• PILLAR 1 – Training and sharing knowledge
• PILLAR 2 – Including the climate issue in the Foundation’s internal operations
• PILLAR 3 – Innovating and integrating as a donor
• PILLAR 4 – Including the climate challenge in financial strategies
• PILLAR 5 – Acting for the Collective
• PILLAR 6 – Mobilizing Resources
• PILLAR 7 – Transparent information

Overview of the different coalitions, internal and external awareness-raising highlights, responsible and low-carbon investment policy, sponsorship programmes related to the climate issue, support for pilot projects and ongoing reflections, support for partners, etc. are detailed in this summary document which retraces the path travelled.

Our two axes mobilized on climate issues

Through our Sustainable Food axis, we understand all the dimensions of food, from seed to plate, and their impacts on our current ecosystem: from biodiversity loss, to global warming and inequality. Through the projects we support, in France and Spain, we strive to bring out more sustainable practices, to allow access for all to healthy food, respectful of people and ecosystems and to accelerate the transition. We thus advocate an agroecological, solidarity and democratic approach. This integration must be affirmed in the short and long term, which will be one of the objectives of the next strategy (2024 – 2028).

On the Citizen Art side, climate issues are increasingly resonating in the practices and reflections of actors in the world of art and culture. With this in mind, in 2021, we launched the^5th edition of ” Composing Knowledge ” to distinguish projects that bring together artists, researchers, professionals and propose to change our view of the world, enrich our knowledge and imagine other possibilities. In addition, since 2017, our Spanish delegation has participated in the monthly working group “Cultura sostenible” which meets regularly and sets up an annual congress as well as awareness-raising actions for decision-makers. This involvement has enabled it to carry out internal reflection work to better take into account the climate emergency in its programmes.

A mobilization that is already bearing fruit, with a number of signatories constantly increasing

While environmental and social issues have been an integral part of the Foundation’s actions since its creation, we have actively participated for the past two years in raising awareness and putting foundations into action on the subject of climate change by initiating and supporting the creation of philanthropic coalitions. The first climate report looks back at the history of this collective mobilization. “There seems to be a big gap between the awareness of the climate crisis in the discourse of international foundations and philanthropists and their real commitment,” says Marie-Stéphane Maradeix, General Delegate of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, who initiated the debate at the European Foundation Center’s General Assembly in 2019. “To increase funding for foundations on these issues, we need to stop thinking that sectors such as the environment, education or health are completely separate from climate change, and instead consider climate as a cross-cutting issue that impacts vulnerable populations even harder.”

In France, this awareness took the form of a market initiative, led by the French Centre for Funds and Foundations: the launch in November 2020 of the Manifesto of the French Coalition of Climate Foundations, a real call to action from the entire philanthropic community in order to effectively fight against climate change. “The number of signatories to the Manifesto is constantly increasing. Every month, new foundations decide to get involved. As of January 31, 2022, 124 foundations have signed the Manifesto. They form a diverse collective in terms of their legal form, the size of their organization and the diversity of their actions,” says Béatrice de Montleau, Head of the French Coalition of Climate Foundations.

For Marie-Stéphane Maradeix, General Delegate of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, member of the CffC Steering Committee and the Advisory Board of the European Philanthropy for Climate : ” Our eyes are more than ever on the future because the challenges to be met, within our Foundation and the philanthropic community, are immense.”