Foundation funded by fossil fuel to fight climate change
NEW YORK — The Rockefeller Foundation, created with wealth generated from the oil industry more than a century ago, plans to make the fight against climate change central to all of its work, including its operations and investments.
In a letter released Tuesday, the foundation’s president Dr. Rajiv Shah acknowledged the “irony” that his organization’s founder John Rockefeller “made his fortune by fueling a growing United States with carbon.”
Speaking in advance of the announcement, Shah said that all institutions that benefited from the development driven by fossil fuels have a responsibility to battle climate change.
“Obviously, an institution like the Rockefeller Foundation has an even higher level of responsibility because we’re an even bigger beneficiary of that process,” he said. The Rockefeller Foundation funds part of The Associated Press’ coverage of climate change.
The commitment builds on the foundation’s decision to divest its more than $6 billion endowment from fossil fuels starting in 2020, though it still has what Shah called negligible exposure. The foundation also partnered with the Ikea Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund to launch an international consortium to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, with all three nonprofits giving $500 million. The consortium has since raised around $10 billion in additional funds, the foundation said.
“The reason for doing this is basically to put down a marker about our ambition, our sense of urgency and our willingness to be transformational in order to deepen our partnerships with others, to try to actually change the course of the climate equation on this planet,” Shah said.
The Rockefeller Foundation plans to take a year to study where it can make the most effective partnerships and investments.
“Our process is really less about closing, locking ourselves in a closet and reading and modeling spreadsheets, and more about listening to and speaking to leading individuals, institutions, heads of state and the people we ultimately serve,” Shah said.
The foundation remains committed to its current grantees, a spokesperson said.
The foundation argues that the new commitment does not change its mission “to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world.”
Established in 1913, the foundation focused on public health, including mass vaccination campaigns and the founding of public health authorities around the world. Its first environment-related program launched in 1969. The foundation’s current work continues to focus on public health as well as access to renewable energy, economic equity and food access. In 2021, the foundation said it had distributed the equivalent of $22 billion in its history.
Philanthropic giving to climate change mitigation represented just 2% of total global philanthropic giving in 2020, according to an analysis by the ClimateWorks Foundation.