Show Notes
When climate wins happen, we often credit the market. Or the policy. But is philanthropy the most underappreciated force in the climate fight? And can less than 2% of global giving actually change anything?
Behind the headlines, people like Jennifer Kitt of Climate Lead are identifying where finite resources can be spent in order to make a real difference, and helping to grow the pie. Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres, and Paul Dickinson sit down with her to ask: what does well-targeted philanthropic money actually unlock? Who decides where it goes? And why, when it works, do we so rarely notice? From the coalition that quietly accelerated the EV transition by decades, to the $30,000 grant that helped take climate responsibility all the way to the World's Court.
The uncomfortable truth is that climate action is becoming reliant on the generosity of a wealthy few. The good news is that this money is growing; the bad news is that it needs to grow much, much more. So how much would it take to start solving some of tomorrow’s problems today? And are there risks in expecting a small and privileged group to fund a movement that belongs to everyone?
Learn More: 🌱 Learn more about Climate Lead and and their work advising philanthropists new to climate giving ⚖️ Catch up on the ICJ advisory opinion on climate obligations of states ⚡ Explore the Drive Electric Campaign, the global NGO coalition whose story Jennifer tells in the episode 🌍 Learn more about ClientEarth and the legal battles Tom references 📊 Track progress on climate transitions with the Systems Change Lab, referenced by Jennifer in the episode 📺 Read about the Trump AI video throwing Stephen Colbert in a dumpster, posted and reposted by the White House the day after the Late Show ended, via The Hill
🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe
Join the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimism Or get in touch with us via this form.
Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks Edited by: Miles Martignoni Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Outrage + Optimism
In Digger, Tom Cruise plays an oil tycoon whose rig sets off a tsunami. Within days of release, it was written off as a flop. Christiana Figueres has seen it twice, and she has questions about how quickly that verdict arrived. As she sees it, the film puts the fossil fuel lobby squarely in the frame.
Before she was Christiana Figueres, architect of the Paris agreement, who was she? What did believe in 2015 that she no longer believes?
A ship rams a canoe. The canoe starts to sink. The ship's crew lean over the rail and offer a loan to repair it.
Net Zero was once a radical idea. Now it’s both an accepted global target, and an increasingly toxic political faultline.
The news cameras may be following rising tensions between President Trump and President Pezeshkian of Iran, but deep in the bowels of the United Nations, fifteen countries are about to choose, in private, the person who speaks for 8 billion people.