Solutions to Climate Change Through Education

Research

The Center for Climate Finance, a Washington DC-based nonprofit organization, is dedicated to leading and developing solutions to global warming, its attendant effects on climate change, and its ultimate impacts on the Earth and Society through new strategies for investment and financing.  There is over $250 trillion of capital in the world today,  but almost all of it going to the causes of climate change.  We must end and reverse this trend towards investment in a sustainable world.

Board-Level Education

  

CCF seeks to be a global leader and central coordinator of executive- and board-level education on climate change and climate finance. CCF is developing working relationships with the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and intends to expand to as many as 10 to 20 university relationships globally, ultimately providing climate finance education to thousands of corporate executives and boards of directors.

Publishing / Communications

ClimateFinance.org website will publish monthly journals on the status of climate finance around the world, building  towards a book to be entitled "Climate Finance: The Path Forward."

Preliminary Plan and Proposal

  

Center for Climate Finance

 

This is a brief description of plans to establish the Center for Climate Finance (CCF) as a premier thought leader and educator among the corporate and financial community on the topic of investing in and financing solutions to climate change.

 

The Challenge to be Addressed

 

A key shortage today -- indeed, one of the current barriers to scaling up climate finance -- is lack of expertise at Board of Directors levels about climate change and climate finance. Imagine that a typical member of a corporate Board of Directors is 70 years old and built his/her skills and reputation leading another organization 5 to 10 years ago. Was climate change a big issue on their plate during those years? Did they grow up in their careers becoming expert on climate change? The answer is no – this is a new issue that has hit Boards of Directors and executive managements in the past five years. Virtually none of the 10,000 directors of companies in the world today have sufficient expertise to understand it, deal effectively with it, and make astute decisions as part of governance of their respective organizations.

 

Mission of CCF

 

CCF's mission is to provide educational information and instruction to the world’s boards of directors and executives about climate change and what their companies should be doing about it – some investing in solutions like wind and solar power, some reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions, and some changing their business models and strategic plans.

 

CCF Initial Funding Proposal

 

CCF is seeking funding from foundations and others to build the curriculum and outreach to prospective client companies that will pay memberships and tuition for educational programs. The funding plan for CCF is based on obtaining commitments for $10 million of grant funding:


                                                       2020                  2021                 2022                  2023

Foundation grants                  $3,000,000      $3,000,000       $3,000,000      $1,000,000

Corporate memberships       $   100,000      $   500,000       $1,000,000      $1,500,000

Corporate tuitions                                            $   100,000 .     $1,000,000      $3,000,000

Totals                                       $3,100,000      $3,600,000       $5,000,000      $5,500,000

  

The initial funds will be used for university-based personnel to develop the courses, case studies and teaching materials, plus Internet functionality, communications, and CCF staff and research travel.

 

Education Basis and Network

 

CCF, a Washington DC-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, seeks to be a global leader and central coordinator of executive- and board-level education on climate finance. CCF is developing working relationships with the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and has professional relationships with educators in the U.S., U.K, India and China. CCF intends to expand to as many as 10 to 20 university relationships globally.

 

Advisory Board

 

CCF will be establishing an Advisory Board of renowned experts in corporate governance, public policy, education, climate change, sustainable investment, impact investment, green bonds, clean energy project finance, corporate finance, and other aspects of the climate finance mission.

 

Michael Eckhart

 

CCF has been founded by Michael Eckhart, a globally-respected figure in the clean energy finance community, who recently retired as Managing Director and Global Head of Environmental Finance at Citigroup. While at Citi, he instigated and led the banking community to write and promulgate the Green Bond Principles and establish its on-going governance.  Previously, he was founder, Chairman and President of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) with over 600 organizational members, and earlier was principal of the SolarBank Initiative under which he led a team in India to train 1,000 bankers on solar finance. He is a recipient of several  global awards including the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. He has extensive for-profit and non-profit Board-level experience, and presently serves on the Board of Directors of Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc., a $2 billion NYSE listed investment company focused on climate solutions.

 

For additional information, please contact Michael Eckhart at +1-202-492-5100 or at email michael.eckhart@climatefinance.org.

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Solutions to Climate Change Through Education

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michael.eckhart@climatefinance.org