Drawdown
Drawdown provides a comprehensive template to assess climate interventions for impact, scale, and concomitant benefits. It has widened the aperture about what can be considered “climate funding” — whether it be transitioning to electric vehicles, rethinking agricultural and broader land and ocean management practices, or educating and empowering girls and women. As more funders, investors, policy makers, and advocates undertake solutions, Drawdown can be an effective and accessible resource in decision-making around interventions and priorities. More than one funder has shared with us that Drawdown was their entry-point for addressing the impacts of climate change.
Sustainable Conservation
Although Caldera focuses mainly on climate mitigation strategies, we realize that adaptation must be considered as well. The impact of climate change is already here as we have see through the increase in wildfire, hurricanes, flooding, and drought. Extreme weather will have different implications depending on the region. In California, water has always been a scarce resource. That’s why nature-based solutions such as those pioneered by Sustainable Conservation should be explored. As Ashley Boren explains in. this article, “Ground water recharge is a cost-effective tool for mitigating both the peaks and. troughs of our water supply.”
Adventure Scientists
Melding scientific expertise with citizen engagement, Adventure Scientists captures the human capital available to do hands-on work around scientific research, including research on climate change. The project to identify long-abandoned, methane-emitting gas wells in Pennsylvania in order to qualify for funds available through the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate funding seems like a no-brainer. The intervention itself is uncontroversial; in other words, there is no stakeholder who may object to this remediation. Once the wells are identified and capped, the project could potentially reduce methane emissions of over 50,000 metric tons per year — equal to the annual emission of 3 1/2 power plants.
Forward Global
Caldera has implemented and funded the Climate Action Lab within Forward Global, a network of over 400 high net worth individuals and families globally who seek to use their resources to address the world’s most pressing problems. The Climate Action Lab provides an onboarding experience for new climate funders as well as longterm funders to share their learnings, be inspired, be informed, be strategic within a supportive community. Our collective impact can be powerful. In the Climate action Lab, we learn about a broad range of strategies and interventions, from solar reflectivity as a time-buying strategy, to mangrove restorations to protect shorelines and sequester carbon; from climate-response strategies that help communities be resilient, to overcoming hurdles for electrifying transportation and buildings.
Campaign Legal Center
An upstream concern in protecting our climate goals is our democracy. Many of our elected officials fall short in their support of climate solutions. Outside money can influence legislative positions. And election interference threatens our institutions and our foundational social compact. CLC is a non-partisan organization of mostly lawyers who will stand up to protect the vote and voter’s rights. While this may seem removed from climate change, assuring that we all have a voice is an important step in addressing the threat that is all too real to millions of Americans.
Ploughshares Fund
While not a climate grant per se, the use of nuclear weapons is an existential threat to our planet. Ploughshares Fund is a foundation that supports the smartest thinkers with the best ideas. When the opportunity arose to have funds matched by Pivotal Ventures, founded by Melinda Gates, to advance women in areas in which they are underrepresented, Caldera put $150,000 toward Ploughshares Funds Equity Rises initiative that stewards the role of women in global security. Addressing the threat of nuclear weapons is an egregiously underfunded area, and Ploughshares Fund is one of the most important U.S.-based organizations working on this issue.