WEF launches initiative to unlock $3T a year for climate and nature

The World Economic Forum on Tuesday launched the Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) to help unlock the $3 trillion of financing needed each year to reach net-zero, reverse nature loss, and restore biodiversity by 2050.

The global initiative to fund and grow new and existing public, private, and philanthropic partnerships (PPPPs) is supported by more than 45 partners, including HCL Technologies, through its chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra.

With the energy and cost of living crises, the ambition of steering the planet towards a 1.5-degree Celsius warming pathway hangs in the balance, the WEF said.

Meanwhile, the recent agreement at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15) in Montreal to conserve 30% of all Earth and sea looks bold but fragile in the face of a rising biodiversity crisis.

"Current funding is slow and inadequate, and a new approach is needed to get capital flowing. Philanthropic giving can address this, with unique qualities not found in other financings: it is nimble, more tolerant of risks, and is driven by values and long-term outcomes rather than quarterly returns," the WEF said.

"We are at a tipping point in our efforts to put the planet back on track to meet our climate ambitions. To reach the speed and scale required to heal the Earth's systems. We need to unlock not only private capital and government funds but also the philanthropy sector as a truly catalytic force to achieve the necessary acceleration," WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said.

GAEA's growing body of philanthropic partners includes Active Philanthropy, the African Climate Foundation, Andre Hoffmann Family Office, the Arab Foundations Forum, Bezos Earth Fund, BMW Foundation, and Children's Investment Fund Foundation.

It also includes the Clean Air Fund, Climate Leadership Initiative, ClimateWorks Foundation, Eleven Eleven Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Growald Climate Fund, IKEA Foundation, Laudes Foundation, Noa's Ark Foundation, United Nations Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, WINGS, and Workday Foundation.

Individuals, academic institutions, companies, and public sector organisations supporting the initiative include Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and HCL Tech through their chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra.

Philanthropic financing for climate mitigation has risen in recent years, but still represents less than 2% of total philanthropic giving, estimated at $810 billion in 2021.