International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change: Progress Report 2
Across the world, despite a challenging context, foundations are making measurable progress on climate. This report focuses on progress made by signatories to the International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change to integrate climate across their work and translate the commitment into institutional change.
Overview
Following the first International Commitment Progress Report published in 2025, this second progress report highlights the signatories’ progress to date, surfaces emerging trends, and identifies clear opportunities to strengthen and accelerate action across the International Commitment and the wider movement. The report is based on survey results from 23 responding signatories out of an eligible group of 48 signatories.
At a time when philanthropic climate funding remains insufficient, the Philanthropy For Climate Commitments, including the International Commitment, provide a practical, collective pathway for foundations everywhere to accelerate action, learn together, and strengthen philanthropy’s response. Using a multi-pillar framework, the commitments offer a flexible structure that supports foundations to embed climate across their work in a way that reflects their unique expertise, assets and institutional mandates.
The purpose of this report is to recognise and understand progress made, and to encourage signatories to continue making headway on their climate action. For foundations that have not yet signed on, the report aims to show how others are engaging with the commitments, and to offer clear entry points to join the movement. Foundations, whether they are signatories or not, are encouraged to use this report as a mirror to see where they sit across the seven pillars and as a map to guide next steps.
Key takeaways
- All responding signatories report progress since signing and signatories show steady progress across all seven pillars.
- Despite remaining the most challenging pillar, the biggest collective shift was in Endowments and Assets. Signatories are increasingly adopting climate aware investment strategies, positive or negative screening, divestment, and impact investing.
- Non-signatories, particularly non-climate-focused foundations, stand to gain the greatest value from engagement with the International Commitment, where shared learning, structure, and peer support can spark action and accelerate progress.
- Signatories with a structured, forward-looking climate action plan are three times more likely to make progress. Foundations without such a plan have a clear to accelerate progress by developing one based on the framework of the International Commitment in order to structure action, align pillars, and sustain momentum over time.
Background
The report is a product of the European Philanthropy Coalition for Climate and WINGS.
The European Philanthropy Coalition for Climate (Climate Coalition) has worked in partnership with WINGS to launch and scale the global Philanthropy For Climate movement and the International Commitment since 2021. The Climate Coalition leads on supporting national commitments in Europe and acts as the main point of contact for European signatories that have signed the International Commitment.
Transparency is a core part of the global Philanthropy For Climate movement, incorporating an accountability and ambition-raising mechanism that requires signatories to reflect on and report the actions they have taken under each pillar. Understanding what progress is being made and what challenges still need to be overcome is key to strengthening the pace and scale of philanthropy’s response to the climate crisis.
By providing an update of progress along the commitments, this report offers a a unique opportunity to share collective progress and learning with signatories and illustrate to foundations considering signing the commitment, the value of the approach and the support available to take the next step on their climate journey – whether they are just getting started or ready to demonstrate leadership.
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