The Southwood Foundation is pleased to have become a signatory of the Association of Charitable Foundations’ Funder Commitment on Climate Change. Developed by a group of leading foundations wanting to take joint action on the climate crisis, the declaration is both a tool to galvanise the funding community into action on the environment and a lever for directing finance and action to address one of the most urgent challenges of our time.

The declaration commits signatories to acting in a range of ways. They will provide opportunities to their employees, trustees and stakeholders learn about climate change, commit resources to addressing the issues and the consequences of climate change, integrate climate considerations into programmes, priorities and processes and take climate into consideration in investments. Participating funders are also committed to decarbonising their processes and reporting on action taken as a result of signing the declaration.

TSF trustee Mark Southwood said, “We had no hesitation in signing up to this important initiative. The climate emergency is so pressing that we all need to step up and do whatever we can to change the current direction of travel. We encourage all organisations to urgently work towards achieving carbon net zero. Foundations and other funders have a critical role to play in addressing climate change and we are happy to be part of the movement for change.”

TSF is happy to discuss the declaration with any other funders interested in signing up to The Funder Commitment on Climate Change, which can be found here: https://fundercommitmentclimatechange.org/