Colleges and universities interested in climate solutions can turn to the Climate Solutions Acceleration Fund for some help.
Grants of $5,000 and $10,000 from the fund are available for schools that are signatories to one of the Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments or members of the University Climate Change Coalition.
Eligible projects may use the funds for project implementation, or to support climate action planning activities that advance campus and external stakeholder climate action, with priority for long-term campus-community partnerships. Applications are due April 3.
The Climate Solutions Acceleration Fund was announced in February at the 2020 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit, a national gathering of higher education officials and chief investment officers committed to accelerating climate solutions that is held by the Intentional Endowments Network and Second Nature organizations.
A report issued in February by the Intentional Endowments Network found increasing evidence that sustainable investing strategies perform as well or better than traditional approaches. The report, "Financial Performance of Sustainable Investing: The State of the Field and Case Studies for Endowments," includes case studies of 11 university endowments' sustainable investment strategies.
"We are reaching a point now in early 2020 when everything is coming together for a major shift in the thinking and practices of university and college officials on climate solutions," said Georges Dyer, IEN co-founder and executive director, in a statement. "The student and broader community support are there and now we are seeing growing evidence that early adopter higher education institutions are able to 'clean up' their investments with no downside in terms of performance. All of this paves the way for a major year of progress."
