European Energy Security

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has politically and economically weaponized fossil fuels, creating an extensive humanitarian and energy crisis. It provides an urgent impetus for Europe to address the energy “trilemma”—the struggle to balance decarbonization, energy security, and affordability—and catalyze an unprecedented transition to clean energy and away from the status quo of heating homes and fueling industry with Russian gas. Responding to this call, the European Energy Security Initiative will leverage philanthropic investment to expand comprehensive climate action in the power and buildings sectors across the region. This initiative comprises efforts led by two strong grantees:

(1) Work led by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) to mobilize 210 million euro in new philanthropy over the next three years to help ensure that the EU does not backslide on its climate commitments and leadership.
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(2) A project to help rebuild Ukraine’s iron and steel complex with green technologies, led by the systems change company Systemiq, and designed to engage key stakeholders in government, business, and civil society
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U.S. Clean Grid Initiative

Transmitting energy from where it is created to our homes and businesses is key to the U.S. achieving its climate goals because it connects solar and wind power to where they are needed most—to electrify our homes and buildings, cars, and industry. However, the U.S. is drastically behind on building new transmission lines and will need to triple transmission capacity by 2050 to achieve climate goals. In the shorter term, if we do not accelerate the build out of transmission now, we risk losing 80 percent of the anticipated annual carbon emission savings from the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. Building large, inter-regional projects is challenging, with regulatory barriers and a lack of public buy-in inhibiting projects and investment. The U.S. Clean Grid Initiative is using proven campaign and political tactics and collaborative, integrated advocacy at the federal, regional, state, and local levels to address permitting, planning, and paying for transmission. This multi-year, multi layered campaign requires $200 million over the next five years and is brand new.

Forests, People, Climate

FCI is a global collaborative to end tropical deforestation by 2030 while delivering just, sustainable development. As crucial carbon sinks, tropical forests absorb nearly 1.5 times more carbon than the U.S. emits annually, but they are being lost to deforestation at a rate equivalent to 10 soccer fields per minute. FPC's field-led approach comprises Indigenous, grassroots, and community-based groups to advance equitable and enduring solutions for land and people while reducing the incentives that drive deforestation and ensuring the integrity of supply chains and carbon markets. Because ending tropical deforestation is critical to reaching our climate goals, philanthropy has an unprecedented opportunity to help create the social, political, and economic conditions necessary to protect forests, people, and climate, setting the stage to unlock public and private sector funding at the scale required to stop tropical deforestation by 2030. This work takes place in the key regions of Brazil, Indonesia, and the Congo Basin through local teams and has important capacity building elements for the regions. The FPC budget is $2 billion over five years, of which $800 million has already been raised with core support from philanthropic partners.