A systems approach to climate integration – Laudes Foundation
Section
How can a foundation move whole industries towards a fair, climate-positive future?
This case study, from the publication “How to Integrate Climate into Your Philanthropic Programmes: What Foundations Need to Know, and Where to Begin” explores how Laudes Foundation targets high-emitting sectors such as fashion and the built environment, combining grants, field-building and narrative change to drive just transitions, centre workers and communities, and reshape the economic rules that govern people and planet.
About the organisation
Laudes Foundation was launched in 2020 by the Brenninkmeijer family and builds on 200 years of entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts. It seeks to address climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality by driving systemic change across high-emitting industries – fashion, food, the built environment and finance. Its mission to foster a green, fair and inclusive economy is amplified by supporting innovation and working with partners to create positive systems change.
Rooted in the belief that markets alone cannot deliver positive outcomes for climate, nature and society, the foundation challenges and inspires industry to harness its power for good by leveraging financial systems, fostering cultural shifts, and supporting innovation. The foundation goes beyond traditional grantmaking, using the catalytic power of philanthropy to unite businesses, policymakers, investors and civil society in enduring partnerships that drive long-term systems change.
Motivation and approach
The idea behind the foundation’s Theory of Change is that if key actors in the economic system are incentivised to “think about climate when making decisions” – like supporting stronger pro-climate laws, running more responsible businesses, investing in more climate-aligned ways, all while giving workers and communities a real voice – industries can shift to become more sustainable and just for everyone. The foundation focuses on industries that are responsible for considerable contributions to global emissions, and works from the assumption that even small changes in practices and processes within these industries can have significant ripple effects across the broader economic system.
Another key element of the foundation’s approach is to invest in the social sector infrastructure that holds everything together. As part of its commitment to investing in infrastructure and contributing to “moving the needle” on climate in the philanthropy sector, Laudes Foundation contributes financially to the development of the global Philanthropy for Climate movement, acting as one of the first anchor funders to help others commit to climate action and stay accountable.
Fashioning a climate-positive future: Laudes Foundation’s strategy for the textile industry
The global fashion industry employs over 60 million workers and touches the lives of more than 100 million smallholder farmers. While it provides critical livelihoods across the globe, it also carries a significant environmental and social burden. Fashion is responsible for an estimated 8-10% of global carbon emissions – more than the emissions from international aviation and shipping combined. The sector consumes 1.35% of the world’s oil, contributes to the logging of over 200 million trees each year, and produces around 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually. Approximately 60% of these emissions originate from material production and processing along the supply chain. These figures underscore the urgent need for a shift away from the linear take-make-waste model in fashion, not only to reduce environmental harm but to ensure a just and inclusive transition for the millions working across global supply chains.
Laudes Foundation’s approach to encouraging change in the fashion industry shows what it takes to start shifting a complex, global system – by focusing on the decisions that matter most. From what is grown and how, to which innovations get scaled, to who has a seat at the table in shaping the rules – their work is about getting climate and equity onto the agenda at every critical decision point.
At the source of the industry – its raw materials – Laudes Foundation is helping to shift fashion away from extractive models and towards regenerative ones in the case of natural fibres, and to innovation-led models when it comes to human-made fibres. For example, the foundation is investing in the development and scaling of next-generation and circular materials to address fashion’s deep reliance on fossil-fuel-based fibres such as polyester and viscose. Through place-based, landscape-level interventions, the foundation fosters inclusive, participatory and regenerative agricultural ecosystems. These models support both environmental regeneration and improved social outcomes by organising producers, enhancing their market access, and promoting long-term resilience in the face of climate risks. Through its cross-cutting work on labour rights, the foundation also focuses on increasing the inclusion, agency and accountability for workers and communities impacted by the transition.
A cornerstone of Laudes Foundation’s strategy is Fashion for Good, a collaborative innovation platform incubated by the foundation. Fashion for Good brings together over 20 major fashion brands and manufacturers in a pre-competitive space to test, validate and support the scale of sustainable innovations. Representing around 12% of the global industry, these partners collaborate to test and adopt new technologies that support circular and regenerative production. To date, the platform has supported nearly 200 innovators and helped unlock over €2 billion in financing, accelerating the commercialisation of sustainable solutions across the value chain.
Through its cross-cutting work on labour rights, the foundation has also focused on increasing the inclusion, agency and accountability for workers and communities impacted by the transition. In 2022, its partners supported the launch of Bangladesh’s first-ever social insurance initiative, the Employment Injury Scheme, developed in partnership with the International Labour Organization, GIZ and the Bangladeshi government. Meanwhile, grass-roots partner Awaj Foundation established the Ready-Made Garment Workers’ Forum, empowering over 300 worker representatives to negotiate collective bargaining agreements that now cover more than 15,000 workers. The forum aspires to become a unified national voice for garment workers, akin in influence to the country’s manufacturers’ association.
Redesigning the future: Laudes Foundation’s strategy for the built environment
The built environment is responsible for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions. Much of these emissions are embedded in the materials used to construct buildings, such as cement, steel and glass, which are highly energy-intensive to produce. Add to that the carbon from energy use over a building’s lifetime and the waste produced through demolition, and it’s clear that construction plays a central role in the climate crisis. With the global urban population expected to double by 2050, transforming how we build is an urgent imperative.
Laudes Foundation is working to make this transformation both climate-positive and socially inclusive. Central to its strategy is reducing carbon emissions over the whole life of a building – from construction to ongoing use. To support this, the foundation is investing in the uptake of regenerative nature-based materials such as timber and promoting circular economy approaches that prioritise the reuse of materials. Through Built by Nature, a network and grantmaking fund established by the foundation and now co-funded by the IKEA Foundation and LTPP Foundation, Laudes Foundation is helping to accelerate the timber building movement in Europe, with the goal of storing carbon safely in buildings and promoting forest regeneration.
Alongside material innovation, the foundation is advancing policy change to embed these practices into mainstream regulation. Its partners have influenced significant developments in the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which now contains a world first – with all EU countries set to introduce whole life carbon assessments and carbon limits for all new buildings. The foundation supports initiatives like the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM), now used by asset managers overseeing more than €6 trillion in assets. CRREM provides clear, science-based decarbonisation pathways for the real estate sector and is being integrated with the Science Based Targets Initiative to support globally consistent climate standards for real estate.
But addressing carbon emissions alone isn’t enough. As in its work on the fashion industry, Laudes Foundation prioritises ensuring that the transition across the built environment is fair and benefits those most affected. Since 2021, the foundation has supported the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) to shift the narrative from carbon reduction to placing people at the heart of the green transition at COP27, COP28 and COP29. This institute became the first human rights organisation in the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), and its Dignity by Design Framework is at the core of publications like GlobalABC’s Buildings Materials and the Climate: Constructing a New Future to ensure decent labour conditions, affordable housing and the inclusion of residents, and to ensure that workers are embedded in the sector’s decarbonisation roadmap. Through these efforts, Laudes Foundation is helping to reimagine the role of buildings as regenerative and inclusive spaces that serve both people and planet by embedding climate and equity into the decisions that shape the environments we inhabit every day.
Success factors
Centring a just transition approach
For Laudes Foundation, human dignity is core to meaningful climate action. Its strategy reflects a clear commitment to ensuring that those most affected by industry change, such as workers, producers and residents, are not only protected but empowered and participating in decision-making. This is demonstrated through the foundation’s support for the Employment Injury Scheme, the Ready-Made Garment Workers’ Forum and the Institute for Human Rights and Business. The foundation understands that without a focus on equity, the climate transition risks deepening existing inequalities.
Measuring systems change
Traditional metrics often fall short when it comes to capturing the complexity of systems change. Laudes Foundation has adopted a rubrics-based approach to learning which tries to capture whether the system is moving in the right direction and how its work has contributed to that shift – one that embraces nuance, context and contribution rather than simplistic measures of attribution and KPIs. Rather than asking whether a specific grant “caused” a specific outcome, the foundation asks whether the system is moving in the right direction and how its work has contributed to that shift. The insights are gathered and interpreted annually, drawing on grantee reports, internal reflections and external data. The result is a learning process that supports strategy adaptation in real time, encourages honest reflection, and helps everyone involved stay focused on meaningful progress towards a fairer, greener economy.
Investing in infrastructure
Laudes Foundation recognises that real change doesn’t happen in isolation: A key pillar of its strategy is to invest in the “invisible infrastructure” of change – organisations that support collaboration, build knowledge and help others do their work better. These groups may not always be in the spotlight or deliver immediate and measurable “results”, but they are essential for developing momentum, coordinating action and creating accountability. From supporting the Philanthropy for Climate movement to seeding platforms like Fashion for Good and Built by Nature, the foundation has consistently played the role of a field builder. In doing so, the foundation is helping to strengthen the backbone of the wider movement for a just transition.