The amount of resources available for climate change projects is difficult to determine, as climate change may be categorized under a number of different areas of interest (e.g. development or environment, or even disaster relief and health). However a look at overall trends in funding for climate change-related topics shows that some sub-categories of climate change are growing in popularity. Below are some statistics from the top funders for climate change:
United States
International assistance for environmental protection from the United States government has grown significantly over the recent decade, from 182 million in 2003 to 1.03 billion USD in 2011. Since climate change is a multi-dimensional issue of environment and development, the potential funds available for climate-related projects reaches an even greater amount.
Grants for climate change projects range from very small to very large. For example, in 2012, the Oregon Community Foundation awarded a small nonprofit called Climate Solutions with $1,000 towards their climate change and energy project. Meanwhile, the McKnight Foundation issued a grant of $5 million to the Rockefeller Family Fund for their work on global warming policies.
In recent times, US foundations have given more attention to the issue of climate change and increasingly support climate change research, policy development, and advocacy. The growth of support for climate change has led large foundations to develop new organizations for addressing the cause, such as the Pew Center on Global Climate Change (from Pew Charitable Trusts) and The Energy Foundation (collaboration of Rockefeller, Macarthur and Pew foundations). 2008 was an important year for climate change for the United States, with environment as the third largest funding category for US foundations (accounting for 17% in 2008), following the development as the second largest funding category (which was 21% in 2008). More recent anecdotal evidence has shown that this trend has continued. US foundations provided nearly $900 million to environment and wildlife activities through in 2011.
Germany
Germany is one of the largest European supporters of international environment-related projects. International assistance from German governmental agencies for environmental protection has grown from $197 million in 2007 to over $787 million in 2011. Germany’s environmental funds are issued largely through two governmental agencies: the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as the government owned international enterprise, German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ – formerly known as GTZ).
Although it is difficult to access statistical data on funding from German foundations, we can make a rough estimate of the opportunities by considering some of the country’s top foundations providing environmental/climate-related grants. The Volkswagen Foundation alone has about Euro 100 million available annually, with many international grants for environment and development projects. The German Federal Foundation for the Environment has financed over 8,000 projects with expenditures of over Euro 1.4 billion since 1991.
Other European countries:
The European Union administers environmental funds through the LIFE progamme. Since its inception in 1992, LIFE has funded over 3,000 projects, investing about Euro 2.2 billion in environmental protection across the EU. To see funding amounts and project themes for each EU nation, you can browse this interactive map: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/countries/index.htm.
Norway, Sweden and the UK are among the largest contributors to environmental projects. Norway in particular is renowned for its dedication to issues of environmental degradation and climate change. Between 2008 and 2013, Norway’s international giving on environment and energy-related projects grew from about $337 million to about $2.7 billion.
As shown by these figures, there are growing opportunities for NGOs to request funding for their climate change projects. In addition to funds available from multilateral, bilateral and international foundations for work on climate change, NGOs can also look to private corporations as a source of funding. An increasing number of large businesses now support climate initiatives as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.
