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.