We are facing the greatest challenges to humanity in our lifetimes from the combined pandemic and climate crises. These two existential threats are tearing apart the fabric of our society and exposing deep inequities and injustice.
These two crises impact all of us, but with particularly devastating impacts on communities that are most economically and environmentally stressed. The Sierra Club Foundation is deeply and urgently committed to addressing such systemic racism. Having already divested from fossil fuels, we are proactively seeking ways to move trillions of dollars away from an extractive and exploitative economy to a new economy that is sustainable and socially just. Last week at the Confluence Philanthropy Climate Summit a number of speakers lifted up a number of emerging public policy and investment opportunities in climate solutions and resilience that also promote social justice and racial equity.
Over the past few years, a growing movement of labor, environmental and social justice leaders developed the Equitable and National Climate Platform to inform public policy and provide funding to advance climate justice. This widely supported National Platform informed the Biden Administration’s Justice 40 initiative which commits to advance environmental justice by striving to have at least 40% of public investments benefit disadvantaged communities. Sierra Club’s comprehensive Build Back Better Plan is creating family sustaining jobs for over 15 million people for the next 10 years, while countering systemic racism, supporting clean air and public health, and cutting climate pollution in half.
The recently passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act directs significant public funding to the communities most impacted by covid and climate crises. The next big public funding push, the Biden American Jobs plan, a long awaited major infrastructure bill over $2 trillion in size, will focus on modernizing the country’s dangerously old infrastructure. 100 year old water, sewer and gas lines, crumbling roads and bridges, and failing power grids make all of us vulnerable. Sierra Club just released a comprehensive Build Back Better Plan that provides recommendations for creating family sustaining jobs for over 15 million people for the next 10 years, while countering systemic racism, supporting clean air and public health, and cutting climate pollution in half.
The injection of trillions of dollars of public funding into underserved communities provides opportunities, and demands shared responsibility, from investors and funders to also move trillions of dollars of private capital towards advancing climate solutions, resilience and social justice. The Sierra Club Foundation is joining with other investors and funders to Invest in climate justice projects by utilizing a variety of financial tools, including private equity, recoverable grants, loan guarantees and extending lines of credit. It is not only good for the planet and communities, it is also good for our financial bottom line.
Confluence’s recent Climate Solutions Summit presented a series of discussions around the important role that values-aligned investors can, and must play to accelerate the Biden-Harris administration’s far-reaching climate, justice, and clean energy plans, and the return of the US to being a global leader to address the climate crisis. Breakout sessions dove deep into climate justice themes such as investing in women for international resilience, supporting climate refugees and providing access to climate just energy for vulnerable communities. I left feeling inspired and optimistic that we can create a climate just world. We at Confluence Philanthropy strongly believe that now is the time for the Biden Administration to convene policy makers, community leaders and investors to identify and commit to private/public investment collaborations that can quickly inject trillions of dollars to create a new economy that provides healthy air, clean water, and a stable climate for ALL of us to thrive on this planet.
- Dan Chu, Executive Director, Sierra Club Foundation; Board Chair, Confluence Philanthropy
Dan joined the Sierra Club Foundation as Executive Director in November 2016. Previously, he served as the Senior Director of the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign, which protects land, waters, and wildlife; keeps dirty fuels in the ground; and connects people with nature outdoors. Dan started his environmental career in the 1980s as a door to door canvasser in Colorado. He and his wife then volunteered with the Peace Corps in Panama, assisting farmers with sustainable agricultural practices. Upon returning to the U.S., Dan became the Executive Director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation and then the national Vice President for regional programs and affiliates at the National Wildlife Federation. Dan holds a Master’s of Science from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor’s of Science from Michigan State University. Dan and his wife Lisa have a daughter, son, and labrador-border collie mix.
