September 3, 2024 – London, UK – Quadrature Climate Foundation (QCF) announces a milestone in its commitment to addressing climate change, having surpassed US$1 billion in philanthropic grantmaking since its inception. This achievement is underpinned by QCF's science-led approach to identifying and unlocking solutions that reduce climate impacts and lift people out of vulnerability. The foundation is poised to accelerate its efforts, with plans to commit up to US$325 million in the coming year to these critical areas.

Established in 2019 by the founders of Quadrature Capital, Greg Skinner and Suneil Setiya, QCF has recently evolved its strategy to reflect the rapidly changing climate landscape and its increased annual commitments. Today, its focus is more urgent and comprehensive than ever: building a climate-resilient future for the world’s most vulnerable people. QCF delivers on this vision through programming across three goals: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, and enabling the world’s most vulnerable people to respond to climate impacts.

A science-led, adaptive approach to climate philanthropy

QCF’s strategy is rooted in scientific rigour and a commitment to collaborative innovation. “We believe in the power of strategic philanthropic partnerships to drive climate outcomes," says Jess Ayers, CEO of Quadrature Climate Foundation. "Our US$1 billion commitment is not just a financial milestone; it's a testament to the extraordinary efforts of our partners who convert this funding into action. Our grantees work together across science, innovation, policy, finance, and social movements to identify and unlock the bottlenecks to the most urgent climate solutions.”

Greg De Temmerman, Chief Science Officer and Deputy CEO of Quadrature Climate Foundation emphasises the foundation's science-driven focus: "Science is critical for our understanding of climate change and its impacts, and to solve the challenges it poses. This significant investment allows our partners to push forward with projects that can mitigate the most severe consequences of climate change and enable adaptation to emerging realities. Our approach has always been rooted in solid evidence and collaboration, and we are committed to exploring new frontiers to enhance the effectiveness of our programmes."

Scaling innovation and overcoming systemic barriers

QCF's theory of change recognises that achieving systemic climate resilience involves overcoming various bottlenecks, from data limitations and restrictive policies to entrenched social norms. As part of this strategy, QCF is advancing multiple initiatives to address these challenges, including:

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR):

QCF is supporting innovations for durable carbon removal, which is essential for reaching net zero by 2050, as all Paris Agreement-compatible scenarios require gigaton-scale negative emissions to offset residual emissions. The programme focuses on advancing CDR technologies, improving verification methods, and advocating for regulations that ensure real benefits for both local communities and the global climate.

Driving the transition to electric vehicles:

QCF supports campaigns to accelerate the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs), recognising one of the key challenges to this transition is the responsible sourcing of critical minerals like lithium, copper, nickel, and graphite, essential for EV batteries. To address this, QCF is advancing research to better understand future demand-supply dynamics for these minerals, promoting innovation and responsible mining practices, and advocating for stronger regulations to scale up supply while minimising environmental and social impacts.

Methane and short-lived pollutants:

While CO2 is the main driver of climate change, methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a shorter lifetime but a higher warming effect. QCF supports research and initiatives to reduce methane emissions from agriculture and livestock and is also backing efforts to mitigate short-lived pollutants like black carbon, which have significant climate and public health impacts.

Looking ahead: expanding focus to address a ‘New Climate Reality’

QCF’s recent strategic pivot recognises the ‘New Climate Reality,’ which acknowledges that rapid decarbonisation is essential, but no longer enough, to keep the world from overshooting the ‘safe’ temperature limit of 1.5°C.

QCF is therefore expanding its portfolio, historically focused on rapid decarbonisation, to also include significant funding to carbon removal and climate adaptation initiatives, to minimise climate overshoot and help the most vulnerable respond to the impacts. It is also increasing its emphasis on science and research, by supporting a diverse network of postdoctoral fellows at global universities, supporting mission-oriented research to tackle specific bottlenecks, and fostering spaces for debate among scientists, practitioners, and stakeholders to identify new pathways for action.

"We are recalibrating our strategy to balance our portfolio more evenly across reducing emissions, removing carbon, and responding to climate impacts," adds Jess Ayers. "This shift allows us to focus on areas where QCF can drive the most additional impact, recognising that rapid and sustained emissions reductions remain the most critical way to stabilise the climate."

QCF’s journey ahead is clear: to leverage its resources and partnerships to catalyse systemic change, drive innovation, and build a more resilient future for those most vulnerable to climate change.