Dr. Carmen Rojas, Marguerite Casey Foundation
We live in an unprecedented era of polarization, inequity, and division. The imbalance across power and resources is so extreme that the vast majority of people do not see themselves represented — hardly the ideal environment for advancing democracy and dismantling unjust systems. However, as leaders in philanthropy and people committed to solutions, it is vital that we allow space for differing perspectives and ideological conflicts as we pursue a vision that offers hope to all.
Philanthropy mirrors democracy in that accepting pluralism ...
Kathleen Simpson, The Russell Family Foundation
Confluence Philanthropy issued a Call to Action on June 2, 2022, to Confluence Members to support the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal by celebrating and making public a list of those members that are making public commitments to achieve Net Zero.
Climate science tells us that we need to reduce global emissions down to Net Zero by 2050 to limit warming to 1.5°C to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Financial assets must decarbonize along the same science-based Net Zero trajectories and pathways.
The Russell Family Foundation ...
Dana Lanza, Confluence Philanthropy
As environmental social and governance (ESG) markets approach $41 trillion globally this year, values-aligned investors and their managers face an aggressive complex of conservative and fossil fuel interests intent on fostering polarization about proven investment frameworks. In a clever spin, the “ESG Backlash” posits ESG analytical tools as a thinly disguised political attempt by radical liberal or progressive interests to take control of the capital markets.
What these spin doctors don’t acknowledge is that at its most basic, ESG is ...
Tara Doyle, Boston Common Asset Management
A group of veterans-turned-lawmakers coalescing around climate action makes all the sense in the world, but it is hard to believe that Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) exists within the chaos of our current political landscape. For starters, the network is bipartisan – and I don’t mean “bipartisan” in the beltway vernacular that translates roughly to “carrying water for corporate America.”
Last month, the EOPA hosted the Climate Emergency & Energy Security Summit to commend the package of climate-related federal investments that ...
Natasha Lamb, Arjuna Capital
Applying a racial equity lens to your investments is a multifaceted process and looks different in public and private markets. At the Belonging Town Hall on May 18, 2022, I sat down with Jennifer Leonard, Chief Investment Officer at Syntrinsic Investment Counsel, and Haley Hu, Investment Director at AiiM Partners, to explore the ways investors can consider racial equity drivers across their portfolios and throughout the due diligence process.
We discussed several strategies to more fully integrate the Belonging Pledge into investment ...
Jesse Simmons, CapShift
Over the past decade, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing has crossed the chasm from a niche asset management strategy to a mainstream investment. In fact, over the past 8 years, products bearing the ESG label have more than tripled and are expected to exceed $41 trillion globally in 2022. It’s clear that ESG investment approaches and products are here to stay and represent an enormous opportunity to put capital to work addressing our social and environmental problems. That said, ESG investing is not without its challenges....
Andrew Jones, Climate Interactive
Drew Jones, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Climate Interactive, joined this year’s Climate Solutions Summit to demonstrate EN-ROADS, an emissions reductions simulator used within the UNFCC to model global temperature target setting. EN-ROADS is an interactive tool that enables users to explore the impact of roughly 30 policies/initiatives—such as electrifying transport, pricing carbon, and improving agricultural practices—on hundreds of factors like energy prices, temperature, air quality, and sea level rise.
“Climate solutions are not ...
Shelley Alpern, Rhia Ventures
In a world crowded with ESG issues competing for investors’ attention, many are only beginning to contemplate the implications of the imminent Supreme Court decision that is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion. Confluence’s 5th Annual Advisors Forum featured the panel, “The Newest ESG Frontier: Reproductive Rights at the Corporate Level,” to explore the relevance of the ruling to corporations and investors. The panel was organized with Trillium Asset Management and The Educational Foundation of America ...
Justine Lucas, Clara Lionel Foundation
I recently had the opportunity to attend Confluence Philanthropy’s Climate Solutions Summit in New York. I, along with Clara Lionel Foundation Board Member Tamara Larsen, had an in-depth discussion on a panel titled Poised for Disruption: Catalyzing Markets for Justice.
Now, you may be asking yourself, what does market disruption have to do with justice? The answer is everything. BIPOC communities and island nations are facing countless injustices, including the disproportionate effects of climate change. At the Clara Lionel Foundation ...
Tammy Newmark, EcoEnterprises Fund
The interconnectivity between climate change, ecology, and social equity means natural solutions are an essential component to creating an ethical, sustainable future. Led by Stacey Faella, Executive Director, Woodcock Foundation, and Confluence Board member, the session Growing Natural Solutions was a compelling look at the importance of place-based catalytic capital to restore and preserve natural ecosystems while generating economic opportunities for the communities that rely on them.
Sarah Marchant, Chief of Staff, New Hampshire ...
Confluence Philanthropy
We are pleased to announce a new pilot program for Emerging Fund Managers here at Confluence Philanthropy. This season we welcome six promising funds to the membership as a cohort. As many of you know, Emerging Managers are new funds with short track records, new teams, and lower AUM’s. However, they promise break through ideas, fresh leadership, exciting new portfolio companies, and disruptive business models. This sort of pioneering approach can be particularly powerful in the areas of climate solutions and racial equity lens investing ...
Confluence Philanthropy
This week Confluence launches the next phase in our call to action to support the Paris Agreement’s 1.5oC goal by celebrating and making public a list of those of our Members that have already made public commitments to achieve Net Zero. This list will be updated monthly.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports are clear – we are running out of time to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change. According to Yale Climate Connections, 2021 saw $343 billion in weather disasters displacing a reported 55 million people ...
Dana Lanza, Confluence Philanthropy
The past two years have brought the importance of progressive change into stark view. Climate chaos, racial stratification, investor dissonance, and skyrocketing economic inequities mandate that the “Time is Now” for honest exploration, accountability, collective healing, and real solutions to emerge. The kind of change called forth is transformative. It must happen at all levels, all over, beginning now. Few have been spared from the suffering created by a system that externalizes cost for profit and the climate is no longer waiting for ...
Mark Campanale, Carbon Tracker Initiative
As the terrible war in Ukraine continues, our dependency on fossil fuels has challenged the world to make a choice. We stand at an unavoidable fork in the road. Either we double down by expanding oil and gas production and thereby increasing dependency, or we make the switch to a cleaner, cheaper energy system based on renewables, and with it, genuine independence. At present we burn fossil fuels every day to run our economies, despite the serious negative impacts on our environment and in particular the climate.
The Ukraine crisis has ...
Don Chen, Surdna Foundation
After not attending any large gatherings for two years, I was excited to join Confluence's 12th Annual Practitioners Gathering. It felt special to be back among colleagues in a conference room—abuzz with ideas and human connection. At the very start of the meeting, I was immediately struck by a deeper significance of what “being in the room” means.
john a. powell, director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, opened the conference with an idea that resonates strongly with me: “Inclusion”—as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts ...
Tom Steyer, Galvanize Climate Solutions
The 2022 Practitioners Gathering was named “The Time is Now”, and when it comes to the climate crisis, this name could not be more appropriate. As Ellen Dorsey rightfully proclaimed at the end of our conversation, “the time is now for Confluence to declare a climate emergency.”
The urgency of our current moment cannot be overstated. When we convened, I shared that if we continue to emit at our current rate, our carbon budget—the amount of CO2, we can emit without reaching a change of 1.5°C—would expire in 7 years, 4 months, and 12 days....
Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, East Bay Community Foundation
At Confluence Philanthropy’s recent Practitioners Gathering, I had the honor of moderating a provocative panel on the importance of language and framing—especially in the context of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) investment themes. Our focus was about how if we are not careful, catch-all concepts and acronyms can be yet another excuse to avoid racial equity and racial justice in our investment discussions and documents.
Joining me on stage was Fred Blackwell, CEO, San Francisco Foundation; Kristin Hull, Founder, Nia Community ...
Confluence Philanthropy
Tracy Gray, Founder & Managing Partner of The 22 Fund spoke with Confluence Philanthropy’s Vice President of Programs and Climate Solutions Director, Jason K. Babbie following the 12th Annual Practitioners Gathering. This interview has been edited.
You’ve said we cannot separate race and communities of color from addressing climate change because these are the most impacted people. How would you define Climate Justice as the founder of a VC investment management firm?
Let me just say that when I think about climate and any kind of ...
Heather Coleman, Wallace Global Fund
As we approach Confluence Philanthropy’s 12th Annual Practitioners Gathering, let us take a moment to reflect on the powerful climate financial trends shaping our sector and what these trends signal for our own impact and decision-making in the year ahead.
2021 will no doubt be remembered as the year when an unprecedented number of financial institutions committed to long-term “net zero” emissions targets, generating significant debate regarding whether those commitments will meaningfully reduce emissions in the decisive years leading up to ...
Stephanie Cohn Rupp, Veris Wealth Partners
As confirmed by the 2021 IPCC report, climate change is man-made and the harmful effects of global warming will only become more severe—with flooding, drought, heat waves, and other catastrophic weather events becoming more and more commonplace. António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, called the report’s findings “a code red for humanity.”
However, this same report indicates that if we act quickly and decisively to reduce emissions of CO2and other greenhouse gases on a global scale, we can still stabilize ...
