Review by Gail Bingham, Fayetteville Friends Meeting (Quakers)
One Earth is a “first world” foundation acting as an accelerator to get funding to initiatives around the globe to combat the impacts of climate change on those most vulnerable. They are challenging the philanthropic world not to stand on the sidelines and have created what they call the One Earth Project Marketplace to “scale climate philanthropy” by putting descriptions of amazing projects needing funding all in one place. They call their approach Philanthro-activism, and there is much to be inspired by in the description of the on the ground work globally here: https://www.oneearth.org/project-marketplace/
In their words: In order to solve the climate crisis, we must dramatically increase the amount of funding going to local nonprofit organizations and community leaders who are working around the world to implement renewable energy, nature conservation, and regenerative agriculture projects. To achieve the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, it is estimated that we need to triple current levels of funding to $1.5 trillion annually. It could take considerable time to increase flows of private and public to this level, and we simply don’t have time to wait. Philanthropy can step in during this critical decade of 2021-2030, playing a key role in accelerating the climate action needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. But unfortunately, philanthropic capital is sitting on the sidelines. Globally, less than 2% of all philanthropic dollars support organizations that work on climate change and environmental issues. Approximately 0.5% of philanthropy goes to environmental initiatives in the Global South, and only 0.2% goes to women-led environmental initiatives. Given escalating risks from climate change and biodiversity loss, it is clear that this dynamic must change.”