Twenty major philanthropic funders have signed a call for action outlaying stronger commitments towards funding climate resilience and adaptation.  

Among the signatories includes, but not limited to, the Aga Khan Foundation, Arab Foundations Forum, ClimateWorks Foundation, European Climate Foundation, Fundación Avina, Open Society Foundations, Philanthropy Asia Alliance and The Rockefeller Foundation.  

The costs of adaptation in developing countries is around $215 billion per year. Yet current finance flows cover only 10 per cent of these costs, creating a large finance gap. 

The coalition plans to track its investments over time, which will include reports establishing progress made by COP30. 

‘The MENA region is warming nearly twice as fast as the rest of the world, and our communities are already suffering through some of the worst impacts of climate change. The climate crisis affects everything from health to education, economic development to social justice, and we can no longer ignore the urgent need for unified climate action,’ said Naila Farouky, CEO of the Arab Foundations Forum. She added that ‘the time to act is now’.  

The call to action was originally launched in December with eleven funders, with an additional nine foundations joining soon after.  

Concern – and initiatives to plug the gap – over climate philanthropy has been growing. 

A new philanthropic initiative by the World Economic Forum (WEF) aims to nudge corporate foundations towards climate philanthropy by giving at least $1 billion by 2030.   

It is part of a wider push to bring together public, private and philanthropic sectors to invest in the climate. 

In December, a group of 25 philanthropic institutions, including the IKEA Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation and Robert Bosch Stiftung have announced a joint call for a tenfold increase in funding for transitions and solutions that address urgent global agricultural and environmental challenges. 

Shafi Musaddique is the news editor at Alliance Magazine.