New data released by the Donors of Color Network finds that most foundations who have taken its Climate Funders Justice Pledge have committed more than 30 per cent of their 2019-2020 climate funding to BIPOC-led groups.

This average lies in stark contrast with the wider percentage of environmental funding that goes to climate justice and BIPOC-led justice-focused groups, which was 1.3 per cent in 2020.

Signatories of the CFJP pledge include the Kresge Foundation, which committed 33 per cent of its climate funding to BIPOC-led groups; Open Society Foundations, with 36 per cent; and the Libra Foundation, with 87 per cent.

The data was shared and compiled by the Donors of Color Network, as part of the Climate Funders Justice Pledge is a commitment to transparency.

‘Although a number of the funders listed are above the 30 per cent threshold, they represent leaders in a climate sector where single-digit percentage funding toward BIPOC-led climate justice is the norm,’ said the Donors of Color Network in a statement.

The Climate Funders Justice Pledge launched in February and plans to release additional data with the Donors of Color Network compiled from its transparency commitment in the coming months.

‘Top climate funders continue to blatantly under-resource the BIPOC-led organisations who have an outsized impact in the fight against climate change every day. But it’s crystal clear that we will not win if we leave the power of communities of colour on the table,’ said Ashindi Maxton, Executive Director of DOCN.

‘We created the Climate Funders Justice Pledge as a way for foundations to match their public sentiments on racial justice with their funding practices, and to strive toward better over a two-year period if their finding practices are missing the mark. For funders who haven’t signed on or refuse to submit their numbers: what’s holding you back?’