ICONIQ Impact Announces Up to $50 Million Philanthropic Partnership Fund to Help Protect Our Ocean

ICONIQ Impact’s Ocean Co-Lab will fund 20 projects to help protect our ocean and planet from climate disaster.

NEW YORK , December 12, 2023 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Today, ICONIQ Impact, ICONIQ Capital’s global platform for collaborative philanthropy, announced its Ocean Co-Lab, a philanthropic fund of up to $50 million to support to organizations that are harnessing the power of our planet’s oceans to fight climate change.

The Ocean Co-Lab is helping to fill a critical gap in ocean climate investment by funding solutions that are intended to not only protect and preserve the ocean, but also harness its immense power to mitigate climate change. Ocean-based solutions, such as replacing fossil fuels with offshore wind, protecting mangroves and other carbon-absorbing ecosystems, and supporting coastal communities in their efforts to adapt to a warming planet, are vitally important in the fight against climate change. 

Although the oceans can provide up to 35% of the emissions reductions needed to keep the planet below 1.5 degrees of warming, funding for ocean-based climate solutions currently only accounts for 7% of donations for the climate. Additionally, less than 1% of ocean funding is spent on solutions that help combat climate change. [1]

“At ICONIQ Impact we are focused on identifying areas where our crowdfunding can have a catalytic impact and where existing funding is nowhere near meeting the needs,” said Matti Navellou, Head of ICONIQ Impact. “With the Ocean Co-Lab, we aim to fill a critical funding gap and champion solutions that governments and the private sector often overlook or are too early to fund, such as promising new climate technology research. or supporting vulnerable coastal communities.

“Tackling climate change is no easy task,” said Michael Anders , founding partner of ICONIQ Capital. “It takes courage and courage to face a problem of this magnitude and say, ‘Together we can defeat it.’ That’s what the participants in Ocean Co-Lab, both our donors and our beneficiaries, are trying to do. It’s an extraordinary moment when a group of philanthropists realizes the immense impact they can have by pooling resources and directing them toward experts and organizations that have been doing this work for decades. I am very proud to be one of the founding donors of Ocean Co-Lab and our hope is to bring more people together. philanthropists to this type of collaborative, trust-based giving.

Ocean Co-Lab funding will provide triennial grants to 20 projects, each intended to address the root causes of climate change and help increase the resilience of coastal ecosystems and communities. Each project belongs to one of the following categories:

Climate change mitigation: Five projects are scaling up proven mitigation solutions, such as decarbonized shipping and offshore wind.
Carbon sequestration: Four projects are applying scientific rigor to unlock emerging sequestration technologies, such as improving ocean alkalinity, while protecting marine ecosystems.
Blue carbon: Four projects help preserve and protect mangroves, salt marshes and other critical ecosystems that absorb and store carbon.
Adaptation and resilience: Seven projects are increasing the ocean’s resilience to climate stressors and supporting coastal communities in their efforts to resist climate changes on their lands and livelihoods.
Beneficiary organizations include:

Pacific Environment : Pacific Environment serves people, wildlife and ecosystems by promoting grassroots activism, strengthening communities, leading strategic campaigns and reforming international policies. Pacific Environment expands its Ports for People campaign to three of the world’s largest shipping economies: South Korea , Japan and China . Specifically, they aim to make ships adopt mandatory zero-emission pathways, help create zero-emission trade routes and end ports’ dependence on fossil fuels.

Renewables Grid Initiative : Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) is a European-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting fair, transparent and sustainable grid development. Since 2020, the RGI has entered into a collaboration with 32 NGOs, transmission system operators and wind developers in a project called Offshore Coalition for Energy and Nature (OCEaN). OCEaN’s goal is to accelerate offshore wind energy and power grids while protecting and restoring marine ecosystems. The OCEaN, which initially covered the North and Baltic Seas, has recently been expanded to include the Mediterranean and Atlantic basins.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution : The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ocean science, marine research, engineering, and higher education. Its mission is to understand the ocean and its interactions with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate an understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. WHOI’s Subhas Lab seeks to understand the effectiveness and scalability of ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), a process by which alkaline substances are added to the ocean to increase its ability to absorb and store carbon.

The Marine Tenure Fund for local communities, artisanal fishers and indigenous peoples : The Marine Tenure Fund provides services and resources to groups that are disproportionately affected by climate change. Support from the next Fund will enable these groups to secure and use their rights to coastal and marine spaces and resources, allowing them to continue to be effective stewards of coastal environments and supported as leaders in the response to climate change. The Fund will focus on ensuring that communities have greater agency over how their coasts and oceans are used, conserved, managed and adapted.

The complete list of beneficiaries can be found here .

ICONIQ Impact has so far mobilized $42 million for this effort and invites other philanthropists to join us in protecting our ocean – and our planet – from a climate disaster. Philanthropists interested in learning more or providing additional funding to the Ocean Co-Lab should contact ICONIQ Impact at [email protected] .

ABOUT ICONIQ IMPACT :

ICONIQ Impact is ICONIQ Capital’s platform for collaborative philanthropy. We convene an extraordinary community of families, founders and organizations to address some of the world’s most complex challenges. With guidance from experts and affected communities, our model reduces barriers to philanthropy, encourages collective action, and prioritizes learning and equity at every step.

ICONIQ Impact Co-Labs are collaborative philanthropy funds in which donor communities make multi-year grants to a portfolio of nonprofit organizations addressing urgent challenges facing the world today. Each Co-Lab allows donors to maximize their effectiveness through co-funding, while learning from inspiring experts and leaders of impacted communities. [2]

[1] “The ocean as a solution to climate change: updated opportunities for action.” High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy , https://oceanpanel.org/publication/ocean-solutions-to-climate-change/ . Accessed November 14, 2023.

[2] ICONIQ Impact acts as a philanthropic advisor to those sponsoring the Co-Lab.

SOURCE ICONIC Capital