The climate and biodiversity crises offer humanity an opportunity to forge a better future: to restore ecosystems, create cleaner and healthier cities, and enable more equitable and sustainable ways of being.

Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to enable this shift through collaboration with Traditional Owners and the public, private and community sectors to take risks and and invest in innovative solutions – scaling up the most effective ones at speed. This report presents a comprehensive analysis of global and Australian trends in philanthropic giving to climate change and environment, highlighting the opportunities and challenges faced in addressing the urgent and interconnected climate and nature crises.

The philanthropic sector has seen increased levels of environmental giving in recent years, driven by a growing awareness of the need for transformative action. This is reflected in both global and local trends, with donors demonstrating a stronger commitment to funding an equitable and sustainable future.

Despite these encouraging developments, the trends also show signs of plateauing growth relative to overall philanthropy, and the quantum of giving to climate change and environment remains a small fraction of overall philanthropy. This moment demands a mobilisation of scaled resources and effective collaboration that enables strategies to protect and restore our natural world.

Headline Findings

• Combined, Australian Private Ancillary Funds (PAF) and Public Ancillary Fund (PuAF) donations to environment now represent less than 4% of broader giving, dropping from the previous year’s figure of 5%.
• Around one-third of Australia’s 50 biggest donors and more than half of the 50 largest corporate philanthropic organisations gave to environment as one of their main causes.
• Since 2019, international foundation funding to Africa, Oceania and Latin America collectively received only 20% of total foundation funding, compared to 60% for the United States and Europe.
• Global philanthropic funding for biodiversity-related initiatives increased by 86% between 2017 and 2021, rising from US$501 million to US$932 million.
• AEGN members gave at least $247 million to climate and environment in FY2023/24, with almost 1/3 increasing their giving to climate and environment from the previous year.