The new Capital Coalition for philanthropists, impact investors, and their advisors will leverage Project Drawdown’s scientific expertise to guide capital to the most promising solutions.

Private capital has a critical role to play in funding climate solutions. While funders spend billions of dollars annually to stop climate change, many seek more support to ensure their giving and impact investments are focused on the most effective, science-backed strategies. To this end, Project Drawdown has launched the Drawdown Capital Coalition, a new program and community for impact investors, philanthropists, and their advisors that aims to guide billions of dollars in private capital to climate solutions that maximize impact with respect to sector, timing, geography, and benefits for human and environmental well-being. 

“Science shows us where we should focus our efforts and resources to stop the climate crisis,” says Project Drawdown executive director Jonathan Foley, Ph.D. “The Capital Coalition provides an opportunity to rapidly accelerate funding for science-based climate solutions that will safeguard a more just, sustainable, and equitable future.” 

Project Drawdown has specialized in evaluating and identifying critical climate solutions and is now partnering with experts in vetting philanthropic and impact investing opportunities aligned with these solutions. As a result, the Capital Coalition will equip and empower a broad community of funders with the latest climate science, identify critical solutions for reducing emissions, and ultimately inspire more and better investments. It will also spur a new wave of solutions-focused climate funding by providing a foundation for funders across the capital stack – from family foundations to impact investors – to collaborate and share knowledge. 

“Scaling climate solutions requires prioritization, coordination, and collaboration across sometimes siloed scientific and capital realms,” says Drawdown Labs program manager Hannah Henkin. “The Drawdown Capital Coalition and its expert slate of partners will bring together a wide range of funders to explore and chart the best ways to work together to advance critical solutions.” 

Every member of the Capital Coalition will have access to Drawdown Briefings – private, in-depth webinars on the latest in climate science and solutions hosted by Project Drawdown’s world-renowned scientists. Members will also be invited to participate in Drawdown Deep Dives – multi-week, interactive workshops produced in partnership with leading nonprofits like the Climate and Land Use Alliance, Climate Lead, ReFED, and Toniic that will help members better understand the unique and powerful levers at their disposal to scale climate solutions. Project Drawdown continues to explore how our science, communication, and sustainability experts can best support Capital Coalition members in advancing climate solutions.

The Capital Coalition was launched with support from many. For our full list of founding partners, please check out our website at drawdown.org/capital-coalition or see below. 

“As a founding partner of the Drawdown Labs Capital Coalition, we are incredibly proud to be supporting this first-of-its-kind program aiming to bridge the current disconnect between what the science tells us, and where climate investments are going,” says Wayne Bruce, chief communications and DEI officer at Bentley Motors, who is responsible for the Bentley Environmental Foundation.

“At Wana Brands and the Wana Brands Foundation, we're committed to our people and our planet. Investing in programs like the Capital Coalition at Project Drawdown allows us to stay in touch with climate science experts, keep up-to-date with current sustainability trends, and adopt solutions that minimize our environmental impact,” says senior community impact manager Kaylyn Fern. “Our friends at Project Drawdown have been instrumental to our climate action plan success as we navigate the nuances of sustainability in the cannabis industry.” 

“As emissions continue to rise globally, simply investing is not enough,” says Dario Parziale, managing director at Toniic, a community of impact investors. “Investors must focus on the most effective solutions to cut emissions as rapidly as possible. Toniic members’ contribution to the Capital Coalition is a powerful example of how collective action can amplify science-based climate investments and push for significant, rapid advancements in climate action.” 

Support was also provided by: 

• Anne and Don Bice Climate Fund
• Anne Hale and Arthur W. Johnson Fund
• Caldwell Fisher Family Foundation
• Consilium Capital
• Deer Dancer Impact Fund
• Excelsior Impact Fund
• Gratitude Fund 
• Joseph and Vera Long Foundation
• Seabright Ventures Fund
• Spectrum Impact
• Studio Kakapo
• Xancharlize Fund

The Capital Coalition is designed for impact investors, philanthropists, and their advisors deploying or planning to deploy at least US$50,000 per year toward climate change solutions.

Membership is by invitation and may include:

• foundations, family offices, individual donors, and their advisors 
• accredited impact investors and their advisors
• impact investment firms and asset managers
• philanthropic or impacting investing networks or service providers.

Please reach out if you or your organization are interested in learning more.

Project Drawdown is pleased to announce the election of Stephan Nicoleau, partner and managing director at the impact investment firm FullCycle, as its next board chair. 

Nicoleau, an investor, advisor, and founder with nearly two decades of experience in social and environmental impact, rises to board chair during an exciting time for Project Drawdown. 

“All of us at Project Drawdown congratulate Stephan on being elected board chair,” says Project Drawdown executive director Jonathan Foley, Ph.D. “Since joining the board in 2021, Stephan has been more than generous with his time and expertise on climate solutions, particularly those around reducing methane emissions. We look forward to his continued leadership as board chair as together we work to stop climate change as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.” 

“Our collective response to climate change is mostly an exercise of implementing and scaling solutions as effectively as possible. Making policy, investment, and infrastructure decisions based in science is critically important,” Nicoleau says. “Project Drawdown has been at the forefront of a science-based approach to climate solutions for nearly a decade, and I’m thrilled and honored to have been elected chair of the board during this pivotal moment of our growth and the larger global effort to stabilize the climate.” 

Project Drawdown is also thrilled to announce the re-election of Jennifer Caldwell, president of the Caldwell Fisher Family Foundation, as board secretary. Among other achievements, Caldwell has been instrumental in the launch and success of the Drawdown Capital Coalition, which aims to guide private capital to strategic, science-based climate solutions.

“It’s critical that we do all that we can to champion climate solutions informed by science and Project Drawdown provides that,” Caldwell says. “Through our Capital Coalition, we invite funders to join us in building funding portfolios that meet their philanthropic as well as professional climate goals.”

Lastly, Project Drawdown and its Board of Directors would like to extend a warm thank you to Brad Palmer, the outgoing board chair, for all of his hard work on behalf of the organization. During Palmer’s tenure, Project Drawdown experienced tremendous growth, building a world-class science team while expanding the scope and impact of the organization’s programs. 

To learn more about Project Drawdown, visit drawdown.org. 

This spring, six researchers set out on an exciting new task: to develop the next generation of the Drawdown Climate Solutions with the goal of bringing the latest, most effective, science-based climate solutions to the world. 

Chosen from more than 600 applicants, the new Project Drawdown research fellows will spend the next nine months identifying, analyzing, and synthesizing the latest science from around the world to chart the best path forward for stopping climate change as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.

“This group exceeded our hopes for the level of expertise and commitment to research integrity that we wanted for our new research fellows,” says Project Drawdown senior scientist Amanda Smith, Ph.D., who is leading the initiative. “Each fellow came to us with impressive research accomplishments of their own, and they have already demonstrated how thoughtfully they approach these assessments of climate solutions.”

Project Drawdown is thrilled to announce a US$300,000 grant, to be awarded over three years, from the Gerald L. Lennard Foundation. 

This latest award from the long-time supporter will go toward Project Drawdown’s storytelling and private capital engagement programs, allowing each to better empower their audiences to help stop climate change as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible. 

“Storytelling is an essential tool for instilling hope and inspiring action in response to climate change,” says Project Drawdown Director of Storytelling and Engagement Matt Scott. “We are so grateful for the continued support of the Gerald L. Lennard Foundation as we evolve and deepen the reach, influence, and impact of Drawdown Stories through exciting new projects like the Global Solutions Diary, ”

 “We launched the Drawdown Capital Coalition to connect funders and private sector partners with the most urgently needed climate solutions,” says Capital Coalition Manager Hannah Henkin. “This incredibly generous support from the Gerald L. Lennard Foundation will help us better serve our members as we seek to close the gap between which solutions are most important and which are best funded.” 

“The Gerald L. Lennard Foundation is pleased to join a community learning together to shape current challenges into opportunities for a sustainable future,” says Donna Lennard, a director of the Gerald L. Lennard Foundation. “We are inspired by Project Drawdown's expertise and optimism.”

For more information about Project Drawdown, Drawdown Stories, of the Drawdown Capital Coalition, please visit www.drawdown.org. 

The global food system takes up 38% of Earth’s land surface and is responsible for one-third of all greenhouse gases generated by humans. Can we feed people without destroying the planet?

Yes, says Project Drawdown executive director Jonathan Foley. 

In this compelling TED Countdown Dilemma Series presentation, Foley shares four key strategies for reducing the food system’s climate impact: boost efficiency by cutting food waste and changing diets, protect ecosystems, improve farming methods, and improve the rest of the food system. Along with efforts to restore natural ecosystems and enhance agriculture’s ability to sequester carbon, these approaches can make it possible to alleviate hunger and halt climate change at the same time.

Animal agriculture has a climate problem.

In 2022, I gave a presentation about climate change solutions to the Canadian Parliament. During that meeting, I had the opportunity to hear a presentation from a beef producers group about how they intended to rely on a new synthetic methane inhibitor (not approved in Canada at the time) as the heart of efforts to curb their greenhouse gas emissions.