Climate philanthropy set for disruption with launch of research-based recommendation site

Australian businesses should forget the offsets and invest in high-impact climate-focused organisations, according to chief economist Dr Dan Stein who has launched a research-based donation site Giving Green.

Dr Dan Stein is the director and founder of Giving Green

A new business which identifies potential high-impact climate-focused organisations and promotes them to individuals and organisations for philanthropic donations has launched in Australia.

Giving Green is the brainchild of Dan Stein, the chief economist at global advisory IDinsight who launched the business to provide evidence-based recommendations identifying the most cost-effective, and high-leverage organisations for donations.

Giving Green aims to disrupt climate philanthropy by providing robust research-driven recommendations to enable philanthropists to maximise the positive climate impact of their donations.

“We use a framework that we call the scale, feasibility and room for more funding framework. We’re looking for organisations that are working on problems where if they could solve them, they would be a big deal,” Dr Stein told The Growth Agenda.

He said the framework sought out organisations with big-scale feasibility that were underfunded, but have potential to make a significant impact.

“The kinds of things that fall into this category tend to be tricky system change-type things,” he said. “So trying to change policy, trying to change technology, trying to change markets, these are the things we think are going to make a big deal, but they don’t always get the funding they need.”

Giving Green has identified the Superpower Institute, led by former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims, Beyond Zero Emissions and the Next Economy, as some of the highest-impact climate initiatives in Australia.

The launch comes as businesses face greater pressure to reduce emissions and find more sustainable processes. Dr Stein urged Australian businesses to shift away from buying offsets and invest in creative thinking and innovation.

“For companies that are allocating funds to buying offsets as a way to solve the problem, we say, why don’t you take those funds and maximise it?” he said “Don’t think about your carbon footprint, think we have some funds, how do we push those funds to do the most impactful things they could.

“If you’re a company, you want to do good for the climate.

“Our research shows that you can have roughly 10 times the effect by donating to system change non-profits versus purchasing offsets. Even if you believe those offsets are good, it’s bad value for money versus trying to push for more system change, policy, technology markets.”

Dr Stein said the local launch was the result of a contract with investment fund Australian Ethical.

The fund, which donates 10 per cent of profits to the Australian Ethical Foundation “to unearth and fund high-impact charities driving solutions addressing climate change”, tasked Giving Green with undertaking an Australian market research project.

Mr Stein said “it made sense” to roll the research out to the public.

“Over 70 per cent of Australians say they care about climate change and its impacts, and many want to take action but don’t know where to start, be they individuals, companies, or foundations. There are amazing opportunities for Australians to contribute to global decarbonisation by donating to organisations.”