At COP28 in Dubai, the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA), a Temasek Trust initiative to promote collaborative philanthropy, launched the first Asia-focused climate philanthropy report in partnership with the World Economic Forum and ClimateWorks Foundation.
The report examines the state of climate philanthropy in Asia and underscores the importance of Philanthropic-Public-Private Partnerships (PPPPs) in bridging US$3+ trillion-dollar annual gap for equitable climate and nature solutions by uniting value chain through alliances to build, scale, and accelerate innovative solutions.
(From left) Ms. Gim Huay Neo of the World Economic Forum, Ms. Sharon Koh of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, and Ms. Helen Mountford of ClimateWorks Foundation, at the launch of the “Catalysing Climate Action in Asia: Unlocking the Power of Philanthropic-Public-Private Partnerships” Report at COP28. Mr. Luis Alvarado Martinez moderated the panel discussion.
Pressing need for climate and nature funding in Asia
Temperatures in the Asia-Pacific have increased faster than the global average, with countries in the region at risk of losing 35% of their GDP by 2050. There is a need for increased awareness and financing support, but funding for equitable climate and nature transitions remains insufficient, especially in Asia.
There is a key opportunity in Asia to drive change, and strong excitement around the role of big philanthropy as a first-mover lever for innovation in climate and nature. PAA’s report sheds light on this.
What is the role of PPPPs in driving positive climate action?
The report found that the climate and nature funding gap is not due to a lack of awareness but involves challenges such as the lack of technical understanding, implementable solutions, structured data collection, and measurable KPIs.
To transform these challenges into opportunities, the report recommends tri-sector partnerships for climate action which can act as:
- An alliance builder and convener, to create spaces for different parties to connect and collaborate to feed the need for information and bring diverse voices to the table;
- A capacity builder, to allow the engagement of the appropriate parties to create an enabling policy environment, such as by creating a shared language and mapping systemic data gaps;
- A driver towards dynamic innovation, bringing together diverse actors to make use of their unique capabilities and strengths: philanthropic funds serving as initial investors and bearing the risk to catalyse projects; the public sector providing credibility and structure; and the private sector bringing innovative technology and sustaining projects past their initial phase.
What is needed for successful PPPPs?
The report draws insights from 16 case studies and over 50 organisations and individuals spanning nine countries to put forth a formula for successful PPPPs. These include:
- Aligning systems-thinking strategy and value
◦ All partners need a common understanding an agreement on objectives, outputs, and outcomes to be measured and tracked during the project.
- Building win-win-win collaborations at scale
◦ Over time, if learning is shared, new projects can progress further and faster, building on learnings through early collaboration.
◦ Building incentives for each "P" at different stages of the project development is important.
- Adopting innovative financing approaches
◦ Philanthropic capital to de-risk projects
◦ Private capital to come in when projects become commercially viable
◦ Public sector to play a leadership role to enable these collaborations to thrive and scale impact
- Supporting people-centric capacity and capability building
◦ Putting people at the centre of building PPPPs requires adopting tools for capacity building, such as using data to evaluate implementation outcomes, and creating a community of talent.
How successful PPPPs can look like in Asia
Get more case-studies and insights in the full report here.
Stay up to date on the Philanthropy Asia Alliance
The Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA) is actively seeking like-minded partners to join its journey of collaborative giving and impact, to prime Asia as a force for good. For PAA's latest updates, check out its website, follow it on LinkedIn, and subscribe to its YouTube channel.
