CEGA Releases Milestone Reports on Climate Philanthropy at COP30

BELÉM, Brazil, Nov. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from All-China Environment Federation.

As the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement approaches, the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) is taking place in Belém, in Brazil's Amazon region, carrying high global expectations. Key negotiation streams at the conference include emissions reduction, climate adaptation, inclusive and just transition, and more ambitious climate finance — with a shared aim to mobilize US$1.3 trillion per year in public and private climate finance by 2035.

In this context, the philanthropic sector is expected to play a distinctive and complementary role.

On 19 November, at the China Pavilion side event "Corporate Multistakeholder Collaboration and Just Transition Towards the Zero-Carbon Goal," members of the Chinese Environmental Grantmakers Alliance (CEGA) officially launched two important publications: the Climate Philanthropy Partnership Action Plan 2030 and the Climate Philanthropy Guidebook. These reports provide practical roadmaps for philanthropic engagement in climate governance and just transition.

In keynote speech, Wang Mou, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Climate Negotiator of China Delegation express that "achieving net-zero and just transition requires deep collaboration among governments, businesses, philanthropies and all sectors of society. Chinese enterprises are playing an important role in global green supply chains, clean energy technologies and low-carbon innovation; philanthropic capital can provide critical support for a just transition." He also described a just transition as the moral compass of climate action and characterized climate philanthropy as both "risk capital" and a "binding agent" that can accelerate fair and effective climate outcomes. He called on the philanthropic community to step up its engagement.

Climate philanthropy will play increasingly important role in fighting climate challenge! CEGA Executive Director Zhang Ruiying introduced the "Climate Philanthropy Partnership Initiative (CPPI)" — launched jointly by CEGA partners in August 2024 — which seeks to mobilize upstream philanthropic resources and broader social capital for climate and ecosystem protection, thereby supporting national low-carbon development goals and global climate governance.

Zhang Ruiying presented the two reports: the Climate Philanthropy Partnership Action Plan 2030 and the Climate Philanthropy Guidebook.Zhang explained that the Action Plan 2030 lays out a five-year (2026–2030) strategic agenda and implementation roadmap for civil society engagement in climate and ecological protection. The Action Plan 2030 is designed to align philanthropic actors with governments, the private sector and upstream funders, consolidating civil society efforts to contribute to domestic and international climate and environmental governance. The research team combined bottom-up stakeholder inputs with top-down analysis, convening philanthropies and experts to compile the report. As China's first locally grounded climate philanthropy action framework, the Action Plan2030 offers donors and practitioners a practical roadmap for future climate giving and engagement. The Climate Philanthropy Guidebook provides concise, actionable guidance to encourage more upstream philanthropic resources to flow into climate action. It offers an accessible sector overview and practical steps for philanthropic engagement. Both publications highlight exemplary climate philanthropy projects that demonstrate how philanthropic support can advance climate justice by aiding vulnerable regions and groups, catalyzing low-carbon innovation, building cross-sectoral partnerships, and raising public climate awareness. Together, the two reports deliver strategic direction and operational tools to enable systematic civil society participation in global climate governance, and they emphasize the role of climate philanthropy in leveraging wider climate finance and promoting just transition. CEGA members and partners provided great support to this work, such as All-China Environment Federation and SEE Foundation, etc.

The roundtable discussion session was chaired by Ni Yao, Director of Strategic Cooperation Department of All-China Environmental Federation（ACEF）. Experts from China Environmental Protection Foundation, China Green Carbon Foundation, China Association for NGO Cooperation, Shenzhen Mangrove Foundation, Amazon Environmental Research Institute（IPAM）, and Bock Technology Group conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on the issue of climate philanthropy supporting the green development of private sector. They jointly emphasized the role of climate philanthropy in supporting cutting-edge pilot projects and leveraging large-scale funds, and unanimously agreed that climate philanthropy will become an important pillar for promoting climate governance and fair transformation, effectively promoting the achievement of climate goals in the next decade.

Participants—both in person and online—included Sun Lili, Executive Director, Mangrove Conservation Foundation (MCF); Wang Xiangyi, Vice-Chair & Secretary-General, China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO); Wang Zhengang, Deputy Secretary-General, China Environmental Protection Foundation; Hou Yuanqing, Deputy Secretary-General, China Green Carbon Foundation; Xie Xiaohui, Secretary-General, Vanke Foundation; Yao Yao, Secretary-General, Alibaba Foundation; Xie Yuhong, Vice-Chair & Secretary-General, All-China Environment Federation; Qiu Zhixuan, Secretary-General, Hubei Wetland Conservation Foundation; Jia Ruying, Secretary-General, Beijing GreenSunshine Environmental Foundation; Zhai Liu, Deputy Secretary-General, MCF;  Zheng Jingru, Senior Project Manager, Lao Niu Foundation.  Wu Jingfeng, Senior Program Officer, SEE Foundation, and all staff members of Changjiang Conservation Foundation. Sun Zhen, CPPI Steering Committee member,  former Deputy Director General, Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Wang Mou, CPPI Steering Committee member, Wang Mou, Researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

SOURCE All-China Environment Federation