Newton's cradle illustrating impact

Drawdown Impact

From advancing science-based solutions and fostering bold leadership to cultivating hope, agency, and action, Project Drawdown is making tangible progress toward stopping climate change as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.

Our work is built on three pillars:

  • SCIENCE. We conduct cutting-edge research to identify the best climate solutions and the most effective strategies to bring them to scale..
  • STAKEHOLDERS. We share the results of our research with philanthropists, investors, business leaders, policymakers, and others who have the power to deploy them.  
  • STORIES. We use storytelling to help shift the narrative from “doom and gloom” to “opportunity and possibility,” amplify new voices, and showcase everyday climate heroes changing the world.

To assess the impact of this work, we monitor engagement with the resources we produce. We also identify outcomes – changes in decisions, investment, policy, attitude, practice, etc., associated with our efforts. Finally, we look for broader impacts – shifts in understanding, action, and, ultimately, greenhouse gas emissions – we have helped catalyze. 

We’re Not Just Talk. We’re Changing the World.

Fishing in Asia - Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Unsplash
Investing in Asia
Fishing in Asia - Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Unsplash
Investing in Asia

The Drawdown Solutions Library is a valued resource for Stewart Investors, a private investment firm with US$20 billion in assets and a focus on companies in emerging economies. Funding areas amplified with guidance from Project Drawdown include metals recycling, plastics reduction, and improved fisheries management. “We use Project Drawdown to help us understand the role companies can play in climate solutions and we map investee companies to Project Drawdown’s collection of climate solutions, which if scaled up, can help to deliver the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature goal,” the company reports. “Our focus is on whether the companies themselves are making a meaningful contribution to delivering the solutions.” 

air conditioner repair - iStock | afterday
A Cool Connection
air conditioner repair - iStock | afterday
A Cool Connection

In 2019, Bay Area data scientist Louis Potok was looking for an opportunity that not only would satisfy his entrepreneurial itch but also do good for the planet. When he came across a copy of Drawdown, the book, and saw refrigerant management at the top of the list of impactful climate actions, he knew he had found it. A year later he launched Recoolit, a company that captures and destroys refrigerants that otherwise would be released to the atmosphere during air conditioning maintenance and sells carbon credits corresponding to the reduced climate impact. Today Recoolit is reducing the atmospheric load of these particularly powerful greenhouse gases with a special focus on Indonesia and other countries where a warming climate is increasing demand for residential and commercial climate control.

Office worker - Pixabay
Careers and Climate
Office worker - Pixabay
Careers and Climate

Many professionals turn to LinkedIn when looking for career-related knowledge, insights, and connections. When it comes to climate solutions, that means they also may be turning to Project Drawdown. Our staff have helped LinkedIn identify key technologies, jobs, and businesses that advance climate solutions – information LinkedIn has used to develop information and insights for businesses, policymakers, and others. LinkedIn’s Sustainability Resources Hub also helps connect employees of businesses with Project Drawdown’s Job Function Action Guides, which offer concrete advice on how to amplify climate solutions in various occupations.

Spiral staircase - Pixabay | Francis
Solutions by Design
Spiral staircase - Pixabay | Francis
Solutions by Design

Students in Marc O’Brien’s Climate Designers class at the California College of the Arts don’t just learn climate design – they live it. Each semester’s cohort breaks into small groups focused on one of Project Drawdown’s climate solutions, then the groups create projects that amplify the innovations of companies working in that space. O’Brien also shares Drawdown Labs’ Job Function Action Guide for product designers as inspiration for those who want to bring climate action with them as they move from school into the workplace. And he’s now in the process of building an incubator focusing on climate industries inspired by Project Drawdown’s Climate Solutions Library.

US$100M

Amount a family in India is investing in climate action after being inspired by Project Drawdown

937,000

Number of visitors who accessed climate solutions on the Project Drawdown website in 2023

15,000

Number of journalists around the world who have been actively introduced to Project Drawdown

Make YOUR Mark!

Whatever your circumstances, you can take four important actions to help change the trajectory of climate change:

1. LEARN. Familiarize yourself with the spectrum of climate solutions. Project Drawdown’s Solutions Library offers eye-opening insights into 93 science-based technologies and practices that together can halt climate change.

2. DO. Alter your own activities to reduce your personal contribution to climate change. Check out our Get Involved page for specific suggestions.

3. SHARE. Communicate the opportunity to make a difference with others. 

4. ADVOCATE. Urge change-makers within your sphere of influence to go all in on halting climate change.

Has Project Drawdown helped you to take action that aims to advance climate solutions? 

SHARE YOUR STORY

Annual Update 2023-24 cover image

Impact: Annual Outcomes and Outlook, 2023–24
Publication Cover

Accelerate: Annual Outcomes and Outlook 2022–23

This impact is made possible by our generous donors. If you are inspired by Project Drawdown’s work, please make a gift today! 

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