New Climate Philanthropy Report Presents the Opportunity for Philanthropic-Public-Private Partnerships to Tackle Climate and Nature Challenges Across Asia

● First Asia-focused climate philanthropy report by the World Economic Forum’s Giving to  Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) initiative, in collaboration with Philanthropy Asia Alliance and ClimateWorks Foundation, examines state of climate philanthropy in Asia and underscores importance of Philanthropic-Public-Private Partnerships (PPPPs) in bridging US$3+ trillion-dollar annual gap for equitable climate and nature solutions by uniting value chain through alliances to build, scale and accelerate innovative solutions

● Report draws insights from 16 real-life case studies and over 50 organisations and individuals spanning nine countries to put forth a formula for successful PPPPs

● Philanthropies surveyed indicated growing interest to use partnerships as convener, capacity builder, and lever for innovation to drive progress on climate and nature in Asia

Singapore, 3 December 2023 – The “Catalysing Climate Action in Asia: Unlocking the Power of Philanthropic-Public-Private Partnerships (PPPPs)” report was launched today at the COP28 Singapore Pavilion, highlighting the transformative role of PPPPs to address the substantial funding gap in safeguarding and restoring climate and nature in Asia.

The report, which is the first Asia-focused deliverable of the World Economic Forum’s Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) initiative, offers 16 real-life case studies and draws insights from over 50 organisations and individuals spanning nine countries, including philanthropic entities with operations in Asia, the finance community, capacity-building and convening institutes and universities. It reveals that the climate and nature funding gap is not down to a lack of issue awareness but involves challenges including the lack of technical understanding, implementable solutions, structured data collection and measurable KPIs.

To transform these challenges into opportunities, the report recommends tri-sector partnerships for climate action which can act as:

● An alliance builder and convener, to create spaces for different parties to connect and collaborate to feed the need for information and bring diverse voices to the table;

● A capacity builder, to allow the engagement of the appropriate parties to create an enabling policy environment, such as by creating a shared language and mapping systemic data gaps;

● A driver towards dynamic innovation, bringing together diverse actors to make use of their unique capabilities and strengths:

◦ Philanthropic funds serving as initial investors and bearing the risk to catalyse a project;
◦ The public sector providing credibility and structure;
◦ The private sector bringing innovative technology and sustaining the project past their initial phase.

Ms. Gim Huay Neo, Managing Director, World Economic Forum, said, "This is the time for collective action. The report illustrates how, through public-private-philanthropic partnerships, we can harness the transformative power of policy, markets and finance, technology, and culture to co-create a sustainable and prosperous future across generations. Philanthropic giving plays a catalytic role in sowing these early seeds,” 

Ms. Seok Hui Lim, CEO, Philanthropy Asia Alliance, said, “The multi-stakeholder value chain can drive scale and impactful change, as we collectively take steps to solve the climate challenges in Asia. This report is a catalyst to deeper involvement and collaboration of partners from across the philanthropic, public, and private sectors to exchange knowledge and mobilise capital in a meaningful way in Asia."

Nature as a key priority for funding, with vast expansion potential

According to research by ClimateWorks Foundation, less than 2% of annual global philanthropic giving goes towards preventing climate change[i]. The report’s survey[ii] of 24 philanthropies working on climate and nature causes in Asia revealed that funders see opportunities to expand funding across many sectors, with gaps identified across nature, energy, and enabling environment strategies.

Despite these gaps, philanthropies surveyed were keen to expand their funding in these areas in the region, recognising opportunities for a just energy transition, conserving terrestrial and marine ecosystems, investing in domestic implementation capacity, and fostering resilient, sustainable agriculture. With the transfer of intergenerational wealth, philanthropies are increasingly venturing beyond traditional giving and exploring more innovative funding mechanisms, notably directing support toward climate and nature initiatives.

Ms. Helen Mountford, President and CEO, ClimateWorks Foundation, "In Asia, the impact of climate change is particularly acute as temperatures in the region are rising faster than the global average. This report responds to a growing interest among local philanthropy in Asia to invest in climate, identifying a number of examples of climate philanthropy opportunities in Asia and showcasing the unique strength of public, private, and philanthropic partnerships to drive collective action for the benefit of people and the planet."

Criteria for Successful PPPPs

The report also finds that a whole ecosystem approach is required to co-create a just and equitable future in Asia, through concrete project ideas and funding for maximum impact. To enhance the effectiveness of PPPP models and their success in addressing climate and nature challenges, the report identifies four key characteristics of a successful PPPP model:

1. Aligning systems thinking strategy and value: Establishing a common understanding and agreement on objectives, outputs and outcomes to be measured and tracked during the project;

2. Building win-win-win collaborations at scale: Collaboratively designing, implementing, monitoring and building on progress to meet combined objectives;

3. Adopting innovative financing approaches: Creating mutually beneficial financing approaches across sectors – leveraging philanthropic capital to de-risk projects, private capital for commercial viability, and public sector involvement for scaled impact;

4. Supporting people-centric capacity and capability building: Developing tools for capacity building and engaging communities to educate, show results, and translate science into accessible actions.

The full report is available at https://www.philanthropyasiaalliance.org/insights#climate-philanthropy