Our Giving Fund: Mitigating Climate Change in H2/2024

Our Giving Fund: Mitigating Climate Change allows us to allocate our resources exactly where they can currently have the greatest impact. This flexibility is especially valuable right now, as the election of Donald Trump poses major challenges for climate philanthropy. Our research partner Founders Pledge has explored this issue in depth in their report All In: Strategies for Climate Philanthropists in a New Political Landscape.

Another significant development was that, following Trump’s attack on USAID, Bill Gates decided to withdraw a large portion of his resources from the climate sector. Breakthrough Energy, the leading foundation for energy innovation founded and funded by Gates, subsequently ceased operations in many key areas, leaving a major gap in a field that is critical to global decarbonization.

Against this backdrop, and following the recommendation of Founders Pledge, we allocated the donations collected in the second half of 2024 for our Giving Fund: Mitigating Climate Change — totaling €1,931,479.15 (CHF 1,825,529.09) — as follows:

Clean Air Task Force (€ 230,859 / CHF 218,196)

For the Clean Air Task Force, the withdrawal of Breakthrough Energy was a major setback in funding their policy work on energy innovation, which had been largely supported by Breakthrough Energy. Together with our partner Founders Pledge, we stepped in on short notice to help ensure the continuity of this important work.

With this donation, we are specifically supporting the efforts of the Clean Air Task Force to defend the climate legislation introduced under Joe Biden against the Trump administration. The focus is on (technology-neutral) tax incentives for the production of CO₂-free electricity, hydrogen, and other fuels (including for aviation), as well as support for the long-term capture and storage of CO₂.

DEPLOY/US (€ 1,700,620 / CHF 1,607,334)

As early as December, we were in contact with DEPLOY/US, which — in response to the Republican victory in the November election — launched an accelerated funding round to identify and rapidly fill funding gaps among conservative civil society organizations working on clean energy and climate issues.

The start of a legislative term, especially at the beginning of a new presidency, is a key leverage point, as both new ideas and new personnel arrive in Washington, DC. That’s why it was especially important to act quickly, provide DEPLOY/US with planning security, and ensure that our funds could be deployed during this critical transition period.

Our donation supported civil society engagement in innovation policy at the Department of Energy, the preservation and expansion of tax incentives for CO₂-free energy production with longstanding bipartisan support — such as for advanced geothermal and nuclear energy — as well as efforts to reform permitting processes and expand infrastructure for renewable energy.