MacArthur Foundation vows to push climate solutions, starting with $50M pledge to green groups
The largest first-round grant, $20 million, will be shared by the Nature Conservancy and Environmental Defense Fund to foster political engagement on climate change and to build new constituencies and coalitions for "durable action on climate policy in the U.S.," according to a foundation press release.For example, $15 million in new MacArthur funding will go to the Sierra Club to aid the organization's efforts to shutter much of the U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet and press electric utilities to switch to carbon-free energy sources such as wind and solar. The $15 million in new funding follows a $4 million grant made by MacArthur in 2013, according to Bruce Nilles, the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal senior director.
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The charitable foundation known for its annual “genius grants” and its public broadcasting underwriter’s message promoting “a more just, verdant and peaceful world” is deepening its commitment to addressing climate change under a new multimillion-dollar program aimed at building leadership capacity and political consensus around climate solutions.
Roughly $50 million in initial funding, announced this morning by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, will be shared by nine nonprofits engaged in climate policy and advocacy. It is being characterized by the foundation as “a down payment on a major new commitment to help curb global climate disruption by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
“Climate change, and its global disruption, threatens to undermine virtually everything we care about as human beings, from quality of life to the economy, from poverty to peace and security,” MacArthur Foundation President Julia Stasch said in a statement announcing the new initiative.
