Climate Action Supported By The Outdoors Community
Low Impact Adventures, High Impact Donations
The latest scientific data from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that we need to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030. This is essential if we are to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century and avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
To tackle climate change, we need to think beyond our own ‘footprint’
Despite efforts to minimize our footprint, some emissions remain unavoidable. And even if an individual was able to live a completely carbon neutral life, the amount of emissions they would save per year is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the climate crisis.
If we truly care about being effective, we need to think beyond our own ‘footprint’ and influence change on the entire system.
Donations are the biggest lever to address climate change
To tackle the climate crisis we need to take action that couples individual action with broader systems change. By far the biggest levers we have to enact systemic change are voting and donating to climate charities. Unfortunately, the majority of climate charities people donate to don’t live up to their claims. In fact, 90% of offsetting projects fail to meet their offsetting targets, and even 40% of UN carbon credits have been shown to be ineffective.
In comparison, highly impactful climate charities enact policy change and technological innovation which can impact millions of people, or even entire continents.
How to select the best nonprofits to support?
Giving Green is a nonprofit research team composed of climate scientists, economists, and impact evaluation experts. They dedicate thousands of hours annually to evaluating climate impact strategies and determining the most cost-effective organizations in terms of their impact.
Each year, Giving Green publishes a report featuring their top recommendations. The list of these organizations is included below.
As an example, one of the most effective climate charities, The Clean Air Task Force worked closely with the European Commission to pass the landmark EU Methane Regulation last year. It’s estimated that regulations like this could achieve a huge 30% reduction in emissions from the oil and gas industry.
Another example of a highly effective charity is The Good Food Institute, who promote the development of plant based and lab grown meats. Alternative proteins are a particularly promising way of addressing climate change because livestock farming is responsible for around 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Unsure which organisation to donate to?
If you're uncertain about where to direct your donations, consider Giving Green's Grantmaking Fund. This fund distributes your contributions to the latest impactful initiatives identified through their research.
Any questions?
If you have questions about your donations, or would like to discuss company donations, don’t hesitate to contact Giving Green.
by Giving Green
Supports Giving Green’s top recommendations for climate giving. Funds are distributed strategically across the portfolio. Giving Green recommends the Fund as its highest-impact giving option.
Climate Research & Advocacy
CATF has an impressive track record shaping and ensuring the passage of large-scale policies and agreements, as well as continually supporting the global scale-up of emerging clean technologies.
Alternative Protein Field Building
Good Food Institute’s thoughtful approach to scientific research, industry partnerships, and government advocacy increases the likelihood of alternative proteins going mainstream.
Decarbonisation Advocacy and Field Building
Industrious Labs is dedicated to helping heavy industry go green. It advocates for corporate low-carbon commitments, government regulation, and public funding to speed up the green transition.
Effective Giving Research & Advocacy
Giving Green is a climate research project, incubated at IDinsight. It promotes effective, high-impact climate giving through its guides for philanthropic giving and corporate action.
Nuclear Energy Policy Research & Development
Good Energy Collective is a women-led, worker self-directed policy nonprofit that is developing and advancing community-centred, equitable policies for nuclear energy.
Read more about Giving Green
Giving Green is a guide to making more effective climate giving decisions. Giving Green helps you find evidence-based, cost-effective, and high-leverage organizations that maximize the impact of your climate donations.
There is an exciting plethora of climate initiatives that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but only some are based on the best available evidence. Supporting these highly effective initiatives is one of the most impactful climate actions individuals and businesses can take. Giving Green was created to help you find the organizations behind them.
Giving Green is a team of climate scientists, economists and impact evaluation experts with decades of experience working at the intersection of evidence-based policy and the environment. They spend thousands of hours reviewing the studies, crunching the numbers and interviewing the experts, so you don’t have to.
Giving Green publishes all of their team’s research and deliberations, so you can be confident that its recommendations are scientific, transparent and actionable. Giving Green’s research is funded entirely by generous donors. If you’ve found their work helpful, please consider donating to Giving Green to support their research, alongside their top-recommended nonprofits.
Giving What We Can does not take any fees from donors using our platform or from charities listed on our platform. We are independently funded to promote our mission of making giving effectively and significantly a cultural norm. Read more on our transparency page.