Welcome.
Today we have Sir Alok Sharma, Liz Yee, and Veronica Chau.
Liz, Rockefeller Foundation recently announced a ton of
climate work.
Can you tell us a bit about that and what motivated it?
Thanks so much for the question, Naomi.
The Foundation just recently announced its climate strategy
for the next five years.
We announced a billion dollars focused on climate, in
particular, because we were a Foundation grounded in the
principles and focused on trying to support the world's most
vulnerable and ensure the well-being of humanity.
So, in that regard, we felt that climate was the most
challenging crisis of our current time.
In so doing, we wanted to focus on three things.
First, our programs, which is what we've always been known
for.
But in order to actually deliver on that vision, we also
committed to make our endowment net zero, as well as our
operations net zero by 2050. Programmatically,
we wanted to continue to focus on the core drivers that were
important to be able to uplift humanity and make sure that
people had access to opportunities.
So we're continuing to focus on ensuring that populations have
access to clean energy and that we support a just transition.
We're also recognizing that, in this climate crisis, food and
nutrition access is a really key challenge.
And so we'll continue to work on ensuring that people have access
to good food that is good for them, as well as the planet.
Since the food system causes 30% of greenhouse gas emissions,
that felt critical.
The third area that we will focus on is climate and health
and recognizing that we don't know all of the challenges that
climate warming will bring, but that we recognize
we need to be able to understand that, and ensure that vulnerable
populations have access to quality healthcare and
opportunity.
And then the last is the finance systems.
Climate finance is flowing, certainly, but not at the scale
and the speed that we need, and also not in an equitable way.
And so through that lens, we will look at how we can
re-architect finance systems and also ensure that climate finance
is distributed equitably across people.
Alok, I would love to go deeper on climate finance with you.
What do you see as the challenges and opportunities in
mobilizing capital for climate impact, especially among
vulnerable communities?
Well Naomi, firstly, thank you so much for having me on this.
And can I just say that I think what Liz sort of set out in
terms of Rockefeller's strategy is absolutely brilliant.
And you know, the biggest challenge that we have in the
coming years and the coming decades is to deal with this
chronic threat of climate change. And it is getting worse.
And you talked about vulnerable communities.
You know, we're in a position right now where millions,
billions of people, lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, and
countries are being affected.
And we've seen some improvements in terms of finance flows.
There is more money flowing, but the reality is that
it is not flowing at scale overall, and it's certainly not
reaching the most climate-vulnerable communities
out there.
And I think one of the things that we do need to be doing is
looking at more innovative ways.
And this is where Rockefeller has been doing a lot of work on
concessional finance, on foreign exchange risk areas, working,
supporting, brilliant individuals like Mia Mottley,
with her Bridgetown agenda.
And that's what we need to do.
We need to have the catalyst, the really vital catalyst,
provided by the philanthropies, working with governments to then
unleash the billions, the trillions that are needed from
the private sector.
Veronica, anything to add to that?
Well, just completely agree with everything Alok was saying.
The positive signs that gives me hope is that the world is waking
up to these opportunities.
In a survey that we just completed of over 100 climate
investors in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, we
found overall signs of optimism.
Investors see the opportunity. Things like, in Latin America,
they see it as the next market to take off. Nature-based
solutions are top of their agenda.
So there is a sentiment, but exactly what Alok was saying,
they'll need creative solutions.
They'll need creative capital to unlock these opportunities.
And that's where I think what the Rockefeller Foundation is
doing, putting that capital up, is so essential.
COP28, it's early so far, but any reflections on signs of
optimism, or anything you really hope to see in the next few
days?
Well, let me just sort of kick off on this.
We're into day four, am I right?
Day four.
It feels like day 40 already.
But we've actually had some really positive announcements on
money for loss and damage, the pledges there, some of the big
money, in terms of private sector finance.
But I'll just make this one particular point, which is that
we also know that when all of these pledges are made, the
money doesn't always flow as quickly as it should.
And we know that between 2013 and 2021, all the money that was
pledged by developed countries, around only half of it, has
actually reached the most climate-vulnerable people in the
world.
So I'm all for pledges, I'm all for big commitments.
We need those, but please get the money flowing, at scale.
It's a great question, Naomi.
I actually am really optimistic about what's happened so far
here.
I think Alok said it really well. There are a number of
positive finance announcements that have happened, and it came
out strong right on that first day, of the things that we know
we needed in terms of the $30 billion to climate finance to
crowd in that private sector capital.
Things are moving.
And I think, Veronica, you were exactly right on the report. By
demonstrating and having that quantitative knowledge that
private investment, which has always been an obstacle in this
space, is starting to come in.
So that gives me hope.
I think the other thing that has given me hope is that we now
have a Food Day, we now have a Health Day, we now have a Gender
Day.
All of those things that haven't happened in the past, and those
voices that aren't always at the table, at the volume that they
should be, are happening now.
And so that brings me extreme hope.
From the Foundation's perspective, one of the things
that we were very focused on this year, in particular, was
climate and health.
And recognizing that we are the human face of climate change.
And getting it right.
And recognizing that only half a percent of funding each year
goes to health and that the world is continuing to warm.
We actually support, one of our grantees, is a large women's
network in India.
And these women are actually unable to hold the tools in
their hands.
They're unable to go to work.
Their pregnancies are being challenged because of extreme
heat.
And their lives are already hard in terms of making ends meet at
home.
And so ensuring that we provide solutions, that we bring those
voices to the table that we actually recognize that we need
to focus on health, is a critical issue.
And that was why the Foundation said we're going to commit $100
million to the space.
We're going to figure out how to do it and make sure that we help
transform and elevate resourcing to health
that needs to happen.
Now maybe just one final reflection.
This COP is huge.
It's sprawling.
And, yet, I think it's a perfect representation of the deployment
challenge at hand.
The vastness of the scale of this COP is a reminder of the
vastness of the scale now, of the amount of finance that
actually needs to be put to work today, to decarbonize, to
promote resilience, and reach the most vulnerable communities.
So that's what I'll be taking away from this one.
Thank you so much all for joining us.
Thanks, Naomi.
Thanks for having us.