Climate philanthropy has expanded rapidly, yet its scale and distribution vary considerably. Foundations and individuals directed an estimated $11.7 billion to $18.4 billion to climate-change mitigation in 2024, equal to about 2.1% of worldwide philanthropic giving. These figures describe estimates for mitigation; adaptation, resilience, environmental philanthropy, and corporate giving are measured separately.
Contents
- Scale and recent growth
- Where funding goes
- Geographic distribution
- Adaptation and emerging priorities
- Grantmaking models and underfunded regions
- European environmental philanthropy
- Corporate and institutional giving
Scale and recent growth
The latest ClimateWorks estimate places total climate-mitigation giving by foundations and individuals at $11.7 billion–$18.4 billion in 2024. Foundation funding alone reached $6 billion that year. ClimateWorks reports that foundation climate-mitigation funding increased by roughly 30% from 2023 to 2024 and exceeded twice its 2020 level. ClimateWorks, Funding trends 2026
The preceding year also marked a sharp rise. Foundations and individuals directed an estimated $9.3 billion–$15.8 billion to climate-change mitigation in 2023, when climate giving grew 20% year over year. Foundation climate funding reached a record $4.8 billion, nearly three times the $1.7 billion recorded in 2019. ClimateWorks, “Climate Giving Surges 20% in 2023”
| Measure | Earlier period | Later period | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation climate funding | $1.7 billion in 2019 | $4.8 billion in 2023 | Nearly threefold growth |
| Foundation climate-mitigation funding | 2020 baseline | More than 2× in 2024 | Sustained expansion |
| Total estimated mitigation giving | $9.3B–$15.8B in 2023 | $11.7B–$18.4B in 2024 | Higher reported range |
The totals should not be treated as a single precisely measured pool. The dollar ranges are reported estimates, not calculated totals, and the ClimateWorks figures primarily measure foundation funding for climate-change mitigation. Measurement scope therefore matters when comparing years or types of philanthropy.
Where funding goes
Climate philanthropy supports both technical sectors and the public systems needed to move them forward. Across tracked foundation funding during 2019–2023, clean electricity received $1.8 billion, public engagement received $1.7 billion, and governance, diplomacy, and legal strategies received $1.4 billion. Forests received $1.3 billion, while core and capacity-building work received $1.2 billion.
Several strategies each attracted $1.0 billion: food and agriculture, and sustainable finance. Challenge-fossil strategies received $895 million, while carbon-dioxide-removal work received $830 million. ClimateWorks, Funding trends 2024
The remaining tracked allocations show the breadth of the portfolio. Transportation received $660 million, buildings $590 million, cities $440 million, and industry $390 million during the same five-year period. These are foundation totals tracked by sector, not a complete accounting of every climate-related grant worldwide.
The distribution suggests that climate philanthropy is not limited to deploying clean technologies. Public engagement, legal and diplomatic work, organizational capacity, sustainable finance, and challenges to fossil-fuel systems all represent substantial funding strategies alongside sector-specific interventions.
Geographic distribution
Geography of intervention is another major dividing line. During 2019–2023, work in the United States received $5.2 billion in tracked foundation climate funding, while global-scope work received $4.8 billion. Europe received $1.0 billion, Africa $750 million, China $665 million, India $590 million, and other parts of Asia and Oceania $500 million.
Other parts of Latin America received $455 million, Brazil $345 million, and Indonesia $175 million. These amounts describe the geography of intervention, not necessarily the location of the funder or grantee. ClimateWorks, Funding trends 2024
ClimateWorks’ 2023 comparison found that the United States and Europe received 60% of tracked funding directed to a single country or region during 2019–2023. Africa, other Asia and Oceania, and Latin America together received an estimated 20% of that tracked single-country or regional funding. ClimateWorks, “Climate Giving Surges 20% in 2023”
Earlier reporting points to the same imbalance. In 2022, Africa represented 6% of foundation funding for climate mitigation. In 2021, Latin America and Africa together represented less than 10% of foundation climate-mitigation funding, while China was the focus of less than 6%. ClimateWorks, Funding trends 2023 ClimateWorks, Funding Trends 2022
Adaptation and emerging priorities
Mitigation dominates many philanthropy datasets, but adaptation and resilience are distinct priorities. Foundation funding for adaptation and resilience reached at least $600 million in 2023. ClimateWorks identifies this as a separate foundation-funding estimate rather than an amount to combine automatically with the mitigation totals above. ClimateWorks, “Climate Giving Surges 20% in 2023”
Some smaller categories grew quickly from a low base. Foundation giving to maritime shipping reached $16 million in 2022. Built-environment philanthropy rose from $65 million in 2018 to $155 million in 2022, with funding increasing by almost 20% between 2021 and 2022. Corporate-accountability funding increased by 130% in 2021. ClimateWorks, Funding trends 2023
Regional growth was also uneven. Foundation funding to Latin America increased by 101% between 2020 and 2021, while funding to Africa increased by 50% over the same period. Growth rates do not by themselves show the absolute level of support, but they identify areas where tracked giving changed substantially. ClimateWorks, Funding Trends 2022
Grantmaking models and underfunded regions
The form of a grant can matter as much as its destination. During 2019–2023, low- and middle-income countries received 14% of foundation climate funding as flexible core support. U.S. and European grantees received nearly 33% as flexible core support. ClimateWorks, “Climate Giving Surges 20% in 2023”
In 2021, funding spanning multiple regions totaled $875 million, equal to 32% of foundation climate-mitigation funding that year. Single-region funding included $810 million for the United States and Canada and $435 million for Europe. Latin America and Africa together represented less than 10% of foundation climate-mitigation funding in 2021. ClimateWorks, Funding Trends 2022
These figures distinguish flexible core support from project funding and single-region allocations from multi-region work. They also show why headline growth can coexist with persistent gaps: a larger overall pool does not ensure that organizations in lower-funded regions receive the same grant flexibility or volume.
European environmental philanthropy
European environmental philanthropy provides a broader benchmark than climate-only giving. The 2024 mapping covered 169 European environmental foundations, which made 9,488 environmental grants and distributed €2.2 billion in environmental grants. Among 108 foundations tracked on a like-for-like basis, environmental-grant value rose 38.8% from 2021 to 2024, from €1.3 billion to €1.9 billion.
Climate and atmosphere accounted for 26.9% of 2024 environmental-grant value. They represented 949 of 5,340 European environmental grants worth at least €25,000. Terrestrial-ecosystem funding increased 161.2% between 2021 and 2024 on a like-for-like basis. Philea, Environmental Funding by European Foundations – Volume 7
Because this mapping covers environmental philanthropy rather than climate-only giving, its euro totals should not be added to ClimateWorks’ dollar totals. The datasets answer related but different questions: one tracks a European environmental-foundation population, while the other focuses primarily on climate-change mitigation funding.
Corporate and institutional giving
Corporate philanthropy remains a comparatively small reported share of the wider corporate-giving picture. The World Economic Forum’s 2024 report states that less than 5% of reported global corporate philanthropic funding was directed to climate- and nature-related themes in the latest data available to that report. The underlying latest-data year is not specified on the report landing page, so the figure should be read as a reported-share benchmark rather than a precisely dated annual total.
The same report profiles 8 corporate-philanthropy partners working on climate and nature transitions. The GAEA Corporate Philanthropy Challenge aims to mobilize $1 billion by 2030 for climate and nature interventions. World Economic Forum, The Role of Corporate Philanthropy in Accelerating Climate and Nature Transitions
ClimateWorks reported granting more than $1.8 billion to over 850 grantees in more than 50 countries since 2008, according to the 2023 climate-giving report. This is an institutional grantmaking record over a multi-year period, not a 2023 or 2024 annual figure. ClimateWorks, “Climate Giving Surges 20% in 2023”
Together, the benchmarks point to a field that is growing in absolute terms while still concentrating resources geographically and by grantmaking model. The most useful comparisons keep the measurement period, geography of intervention, currency, and distinction between mitigation, adaptation, environmental, and corporate philanthropy visible.