The World Economic Forum, Cologny, Switzerland, has debuted Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA). The new initiative aims to fund public, private and philanthropic partnership (PPPP) with the goal of unlocking $3 trillion in financing. Goals for GAEA include achieving net zero carbon emissions, reversing nature loss and restoring biodiversity by 2050.
During the next 12 months, GAEA – the acronym hearkens to Gaia, the Greek goddess of the Earth – will work with various partners to identify the areas in which the partners can have the greatest impact in three areas: encouraging and supporting leaders within the PPPP sector to identify and act on the solutions they can most significantly impact; generate and modify funding models that support PPPP initiatives; and broaden the reach of successful initiatives to new potential participants.
“We are at a tipping point in our efforts to put the planet back on track to meet our climate ambitions,” Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, said in a statement. “To reach the speed and scale required to heal the Earth’s systems, we need to unlock not only private capital and government funds, but also the philanthropy sector as a truly catalytic force to achieve the necessary acceleration.”
Current philanthropic contributions toward climate mitigation efforts made up less than 2% of the $810 billion total philanthropic bucket during 2021, according to a statement from World Economic Forum leaders.
AEA’s philanthropic partners includes: Active Philanthropy, the African Climate Foundation, André Hoffmann Family Office, the Arab Foundations Forum, Bezos Earth Fund, BMW Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Clean Air Fund, Climate Leadership Initiative, ClimateWorks Foundation, Eleven Eleven Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Growald Climate Fund, IKEA Foundation, Laudes Foundation, Noa’s Ark Foundation, Open Society Foundations, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Pearl Initiative, Philanthropy Asia Alliance (by Temasek Trust), Philea, The Rockefeller Foundation, Trottier Family Foundation, United Nations Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, WINGS and Workday Foundation.
Individuals, academic institutions, companies and public sector organizations supporting the initiative include: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Capital for Climate, Carbon Direct, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the University of Cambridge, Climate-KIC, Crescent Enterprises, Government of Egypt, HCLTech through their chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra, McKinsey Sustainability, Ocean14, Prince Maximilian von und zu Liechtenstein – Chairman of the Board LGT Group, Salesforce, Singapore University for Social Sciences, Stanford University Center for Ocean Solutions, Strategic Philanthropy Initiative at NYU Abu Dhabi, UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, We Mean Business Coalition and World Association of PPP Units & PPP Professionals.