Global Warming Mitigation Project/Courtesy Image
Two Roaring Fork Valley-based organizations partnered to build such a tool. The Climate Impact Conduit launched last fall, a product of Pitkin County-based non-profit Global Warming Mitigation Project (GWMP) and decarbonization-focused venture capital (VC) fund VoLo Earth Ventures, which started in Snowmass.
“The United States and the wealthy of the world are complicit in the climate situation,” said Jacquelyn Francis, founder and executive director of the GWMP. “Anyone who’s benefited off of the fossil fuel world should want to transition into the new energy economy … where things are not fossil fuel-based. As a mountain town as a ski town, it’s certainly connected to just the things we love.”
The database includes a mix of about 60% companies and 40% non-profits from across the globe. Climate categories like carbon sinks, energy, finance, social and cultural pathways, and more are represented.
The organizations listed in the database come from submissions to the GWMP’s Keeling Curve Prize, an annual program started in 2018 that awards $50,000 each to 10 projects demonstrating the ability to reduce, replace, or remove greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A team of 12 analysts vet the applicants, Francis said.
Users can click through the list to explore the details about the organizations like impact on underrepresented groups, greatest areas of financial need, and more.
She envisions funders and philanthropists to use the database as a launching pad for greater research — a way to introduce those with money to those who need it to pursue climate goals.
With more applicants than money to award, the database provides an opportunity for the organizations that don’t win the prize to still gain exposure to global climate funders. Since the start of the Keeling Curve Prize, venture capitalists have asked Francis about the applicants who were doing valuable work but did not receive the award.
By partnering with VoLo, the database benefits from the fund’s expertise in the architecture of a tool for funders to best invest and donate money to accelerate decarbonization. VoLo uses its own tools to analyze which projects have the best chance of commercial success, and therefore, profits, in the climate market.
“Energy is the lifeblood of the global economy; how energy is being produced and consumed is changing simultaneously, all at the same time. The global economy needs to wean itself off of fossil fuels,” VoLo co-founder Chris Tullar said. “If you have global corporations that are responsible for emitting the largest amounts of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases in the world motivated to change because it’s more profitable, I think we’re gonna get there a lot quicker.”
The partnership between GWMP and VoLo was a natural choice, both he and Francis said. The intersection of VC and decarbonization is not a hindrance to climate-friendly initiatives, they say, but a necessary step in incentivizing the practice.
“We live in a capitalist society. Almost everybody I meet, no matter what age, they are still looking to try and make money in their lives. And it drives everything,” Francis said. “I just was reading something when (former Secretary of State) John Kerry was saying that money moves the world. So if you don’t consider that in any of your decisions, then you’re ignoring a big percentage of how things do change.”
She said winning the Keeling Curve Prize has opened up the winner organizations to greater funding and she hopes the database will offer similar opportunities to all listed. Participants will be encouraged to update their profiles in the database annually.
As the GWMP continues awarding the Keeling Curve Prize, the database will amass more organizations for funders to choose from.
