Across core impact areas, the climate crisis presents a risk to philanthropies’ ability to carry out their missions, but also the opportunity to help catalyze the sector’s climate impact. Philanthropies know the communities they serve disproportionately bear the burden of climate change. Because climate change intersects with nearly all other impact areas—from health to economic opportunity to equity—taking action is essential for organizations to continue making progress toward the long-term outcomes they aim to deliver.
Implementing carbon management strategies not only strengthens these organizations' capacity for sustained impact, but also positions them as leaders. By acting as early adopters in setting ambitious climate goals and transparently sharing challenges and successes in pursuit of these goals, philanthropies can inspire and empower their peers, fostering a ripple effect across the philanthropic community and beyond. Through this leadership, philanthropies can be influential in advancing collective action to combat climate change.
Why carbon management matters for philanthropies
With differing structures, stakeholders, and priorities than corporate and government actors, philanthropies are uniquely positioned to make bold commitments and take much-needed risks to advance climate solutions. At the same time, they frequently encounter common operational and strategic roadblocks in doing so. Identifying steps toward quality emissions measurement and meaningful, mission-aligned decarbonization measures—an ongoing process known as “carbon management”—is key for philanthropies in achieving their climate goals and cementing their role as climate leaders.
Common carbon management challenges
Philanthropies face a unique set of challenges in addressing their emissions, including the lack of tailored guidelines for measurement and setting targets, the complexity of measuring financed emissions, and concerns about the integrity of carbon credits. These challenges must be addressed in order to make meaningful progress toward their climate goals.
Lack of tailored guidelines
Existing frameworks like the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) are not principally designed for philanthropic organizations. Without sector-specific standards to align with, philanthropies are often left unsure about the best practices to follow for measuring their carbon footprint and setting science-based reduction targets. Navigating this complex landscape can be difficult without dedicated experts on staff.
Complexity of financed emissions
For most foundations, financed emissions from managed endowments constitute the vast majority of their total footprints. While quality emissions data is generally available for public assets, the cost of purchasing those datasets can be prohibitive for some organizations. Calculating emissions associated with privately held assets presents another layer of complexity and a high degree of estimation due to limited data. Estimating private asset emissions using the best available data—typically at the sector level for each fund—can help philanthropies identify priority areas in their portfolios to focus on, enabling them to work with fund managers to fill data gaps.
Learn how The Russell Family Foundation approached financed emissions in their net-zero strategy ->
Navigating potential risks
Philanthropies are motivated to leverage their unique position to finance innovative solutions, but have concerns about the integrity of carbon credits and relying too heavily on offsets. To reduce these risks, it is essential to focus on high-quality criteria when procuring carbon removal credits, including likely duration of carbon storage, additionality (i.e., ensuring the carbon removal would not have occurred without the specific intervention), and verification and monitoring.
Explore the Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal ->
How philanthropies can effectively manage their emissions
Quality emissions measurement and reduction initiatives are the first steps in any carbon management journey. Organizations should be intentional about carbon accounting methodologies, ensuring that data inputs are the highest quality available and calculations are consistent with the latest guidance. As a next step, aligning emissions reduction strategies with science-based targets can provide a clear, credible path that is aligned with climate science. Efforts to directly reduce sources of emissions should be the first priority, followed by investments in high-quality carbon removal to address residual, hard-to-abate emissions and support the development of impactful projects.
Aligning climate initiatives with programmatic priorities can be a powerful strategy for achieving mutual impact. Demonstrating how these initiatives support broader organizational goals helps make the case for the value in undertaking them to stakeholders balancing other priorities. Integrating carbon management efforts with existing objectives may also minimize the potential added burden of implementation. Externally, it creates a cohesive story about an organization’s overall impact while reinforcing commitment to its mission. For example, carefully selecting a portfolio of high-quality carbon removal projects with co-benefits that align with core impact areas such as the natural environment and social justice.
Communicating climate impact requires careful reporting that clearly conveys the story of carbon management initiatives and their outcomes. This reporting showcases progress, promotes transparency, and enables knowledge sharing among peers. Philanthropies should ensure that any claims related to climate outcomes such as "net zero" or "carbon neutral" are supported by science-aligned evidence to minimize the risk of greenwashing.
Engaging experts for guidance can help philanthropies navigate the complexities of carbon management more confidently. Carbon Direct offers expert support across carbon accounting, reporting and target-setting, high-quality carbon removal procurement, and climate communications to assist organizations through each step of their carbon management journey.
Conclusion
Philanthropies have a unique opportunity to lead climate action, while advancing their mission simultaneously. By implementing science-based carbon management practices, philanthropies can address climate risks to the communities they serve while building recognition as leaders in tackling climate change. Through quality emissions measurement and reductions, strategic carbon removal, and thoughtful communication, philanthropies can strengthen their long-term impact and serve as an example and resource for others. With the right guidance and expertise, these organizations can make significant strides toward bringing their climate goals to life.
Learn how Carbon Direct simplifies carbon management for philanthropies.
Tags
Climate Strategy
Carbon Accounting
Carbon Removal
