Linn views “climate action as community action”. Prior to joining the world of philanthropy, Linn had a background in social development. A common theme underpinning her mahi is a “passion for people and for equity and for seeing everyone have a fair go”. She believes that “you can’t separate out the impact that it [climate change] will have on people’s well being”. And similarly, that it is “the people who are already vulnerable who may be more disadvantaged by the transition to a low carbon world”.

While Linn had long been aware of climate change as an issue, the moment she became more deeply engaged with it was a few years ago when she was tasked with allocating $2 million of funding to climate change related projects through the Wellington Community Fund. Yet at this point in her career climate change wasn’t “an area of expertise”. This prompted a journey for Linn where she sought to rapidly develop her “knowledge and understanding of, and awareness of climate action and what the sector looks like”. Part of the work to understand the funding needs of local climate projects involved relying on the knowledge, skills and expertise of an expert advisory group from a whole range of climate related backgrounds. The group was established to help Wellington Community Fund develop better insight into what the particular climate focus should be with the funding. This put the “threat that is posed to our communities by climate change” into stark reality, but also identified opportunities for the Wellington Community Fund and other funders to build community resilience, awareness and advocacy efforts; both of which acted as a catalyst for the Funders Commitment on Climate Action.

The Funders Commitment on Climate Action, of which the majority of Community Trusts and a couple of other funders in New Zealand have now signed up to. The seven-part commitment is guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and mātauranga Māori aspirations. It focuses on a just transition, decarbonizing investments, collaboration, and leadership. Significantly, it includes reporting back to our communities and stakeholders the actions that signatories undertake.

In developing the Commitment Linn notes the group “drew inspiration from commitments in other countries” but “realised that in New Zealand we have an opportunity to strongly represent our indigenous communities”. This means “putting Māori aspirations at the forefront of our commitments”. The commitment is designed to be a high-level document that other New Zealand philanthropic funders are encouraged to sign up to. More importantly, it has been developed to provide a platform for funders that will accelerate effective responses to climate change to ensure that everyone has access to opportunities arising from the transition to a low carbon economy.

The Funders Commitment and the working group that sits behind it also seek to “increase the availability of tools and resources that will help funders to be better informed about where and how to fund and the climate action space”. This is especially key as “only 4% of philanthropy in New Zealand currently goes towards environment and climate change related causes”. As a result, Linn believes that for fellow funders “it’s important that climate change become “a regular feature of your strategic conversations”. 

On the topic of reaching Net-Zero Linn acknowledges that “really we’ve got five to eight years…to make significant, scalable changes”. Linn acknowledges that community trusts and community funders “whose assets are held for the public good, play an important role. The way we invest and partner with communities to support a just transition to a low carbon society, with increased equity, climate resilient communities and better outcomes for our environment is a critical responsibility.” Similarly they “play a role in enabling communities to take action that’s required, to raise awareness about climate change and the threat that it poses… and to support solutions”.

Linn highlights that some of the biggest opportunities in reaching a Net-Zero New Zealand are the mātauranga Māori expertise on “preserving, protecting the land with a really long term view” as well as the passion of rangatahi who “speak with such passion and integrity, about the impact that climate change is having on them and future generations”. However, Linn believes that resourcing will be key to reaching a Net-Zero New Zealand. This resourcing is not “just about the dollars” it is also the development of solutions and organisational capacity. As Linn acknowledges from personal experience climate change “can be really complex”,therefore it’s important to be able to provide support for organisations that want to enhance their climate action but might not know where to begin. The pay off from this? Linn imagines a Net-Zero world as being one where the current and future generations“can experience a quality of life that my generation and others before have been privileged to experience”. 

You can check out the Funders Commitment on Climate Action website & available resources here.