With the climate crisis making headlines every day, the urgency of tackling this issue is clear. But for many in philanthropy, finding solutions to its complexity and enormity can feel overwhelming and uncertain. Without an understanding of how to begin creating equitable strategies to address its impacts, many funders are hesitant to even engage. But it does not have to be that way.

Candid’s comprehensive guide, Centering equity and justice in climate philanthropy, details approaches that have worked for experienced funders, including how intermediaries can help funders get started and make progress.

Recently we interviewed Erin Rogers, co-director of the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice, one of the intermediaries featured in the guide, to share insights from the Hive Fund’s work supporting groups—many of whom have been historically overlooked by funders—that are playing impactful roles in scaling back dirty energy and speeding an equitable transition to clean, renewable energy.

According to Rogers, one of the essential elements of a just approach to climate funding is to work in an intentional way to acknowledge and account for the way racism and sexism have impacted whose leadership is amplified and whose work is supported. In this video, Rogers speaks to the importance of working at the intersection of climate and gender.

Several experts in the guide also emphasized the concept of grant support for movement building and the importance of mutual accountability with grantee partners. Rather than the traditional donor-beneficiary paradigm, today calls for funders to provide the kind of support that extends beyond the check. Watch this video to hear Rogers explain how funders can strengthen the impact of their climate justice funding efforts by “working in solidarity” with their grantees, and what that looks like.

Read the full article about climate justice by Janet Camarena at Candid.