Rockefeller Foundation announcing $1B commitment to climate-change programs

The Rockefeller Foundation announced Friday that it would invest more than $1 billion over the  next five years in strategies that combat climate change. 

“The Foundation has made many big bets in its history, and we believe climate change’s threats and the climate transition’s opportunities—especially for the most vulnerable—justify what will be the biggest and most impactful bet in our history,” Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, president of the foundation, said in a statement. 

Among the investments, the organization said they plan to donate $5 million in Battery Energy Storage Systems around the world, $1 million to kick off mini grid development in Zambia and develop metro-grids in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

They will give $20 million to Invest in Our Future for climate-smart infrastructure in the U.S. They will donate $35 million in climate-finance investments, including grants to accelerate decarbonization and other nature-based solutions. 

The foundation said they will invest in overlooked communities around the world. Trillions of dollars are being invested in energy transitions in wealthier nations and localities, Shah wrote in her New Climate Strategy released Thursday.

“We need a global financial system transformation that both unlocks that level of finance and channels it toward those who need it most,” her strategy said. 

Shah’s strategy will use Rockefeller resources to transform the four systems “essential to the well-being of people and the planet: energy, agriculture, health and finance.”

The Rockefeller Foundation’s philanthropic history began with an endowment of $100 million from John D. Rockefeller in 1913, the statement said. 

“This new strategy aligns with the Rockefeller Foundation’s vision of encouraging scaled investment and seeking creative and science-based solutions to intractable problems,” Shah wrote. 

Ahead of New York Climate Week, the foundation announced that its Manhattan-based headquarters and each of its locations in the U.S. and worldwide are taking steps to reach net zero emissions.