Seven Questions with Helen Mountford, CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation

Helen Mountford, President and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation

At the beginning of this year, ClimateWorks Foundation named Helen Mountford as its new leader.

An environmental economist by training, her professional life has been spent “on the other side of the table” from philanthropy, as she put it to me, most recently as a vice president at the World Resources Institute.

But nearly eight years at the Washington, D.C., think tank did give her a lot of experience in one of the key roles of the global climate intermediary: working with large groups of partners to fund and complete complex projects. Not to mention that she has spent decades working on international climate issues.

That includes nearly 17 years at OECD—the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development—during a career spanning Australia, the United Kingdom and France. And now she heads a regranting powerhouse that sends three-quarters of its funds abroad.

Mountford isn’t intent on overhauling the San Francisco-based ClimateWorks Foundation, which was described to me as being on its third incarnation when I profiled it in 2020, and has recently faced renewed criticism for its approach. Instead, she sees opportunity for some “strategic shifts” and “accelerations” for an organization once termed the field’s “800-lb gorilla.”

“We’re here to help all of climate philanthropy to tackle the climate crisis as best we can. That is our role. It’s not about ClimateWorks per se, and what we’re doing in our programs, it’s about supporting and amplifying the effects of all of climate philanthropy,” she said. “So definitely not a gorilla,” she added with a laugh.

I learned more about what’s ahead for the intermediary, what philanthropy should learn from the latest IPCC report and how ClimateWorks hopes to emulate MacKenzie Scott (see: participatory approaches) in a recent conversation with Mountford. Below are excerpts from that exchange, which have been edited for clarity.

You previously spent long spells at the World Resources Institute and OECD. What drew you to the post at ClimateWorks and a role in philanthropy?

One of the things that really attracted me to ClimateWorks is that as we were coming up to COP26 last year, and looking beyond that, we were starting to see a lot of new commitments, from countries, businesses, the finance sector, cities. It is clear that to deliver those commitments—let alone go beyond, which we’re going to need to do—is going to require an enormous amount of new effort and agility to explore new approaches, different kinds of leverage, different kinds of support.

The philanthropic role here—to help identify the solutions, catalyze them and help get them to scale—is so essential. That flexibility and agility—and ability to explore new approaches in a way that public funds or private funds are less likely to do. To me, it is a moment where philanthropy is actually starting to step up significantly on climate finance, whereas others are hesitating a bit. We need to seize that and ensure it’s being used to tackle the climate crisis as best we can. So ClimateWorks, where we try to catalyze and amplify the impact of climate philanthropy, is the ideal place for me to be right now.

What are some of the “shifts and accelerations” you want to help lead at ClimateWorks?

There’s a few that are absolutely essential. One is much more focus for the whole community on people. We simply cannot have climate action separate from what we need on social equity and justice. How do we ensure that climate action is delivering a better world and better solutions for all of us, but particularly for those countries and those communities that have suffered the most from the climate crisis already?

A second area is really looking at the interconnections between climate change and other areas of priority. Right now, we’re facing multiple crises at the same time. We’re hopefully coming through the COVID crisis, but there’s still massive unemployment and economic challenges in many regions. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have some serious energy security concerns and we have food security concerns coming up. How do we bring together the solutions that can tackle multiple crises at once, rather than trading off and prioritizing one or the other?

A third area is accountability for delivery of net-zero targets. We have these incredible commitments that came forward in Glasgow from governments, business, the finance sector, cities and others. But now, we need to ensure that they are delivering on those net-zero targets, and that they are held to account so that there’s trust that these are real and not greenwashing.

What does a more people-centered approach look like in practice?

ClimateWorks has strongly prioritized where we can get the most emissions [reductions] per dollar. Increasingly, what we’re seeing is that while you can come up with fantastic technical and practical solutions, you need to have the buy-in to ensure that these actually get adopted and that they’re durable. For example, there’s a lot of co-benefits from climate action in the energy and transport space for health. We know that air pollution and its health impacts tend to hit the poorest communities and the most disadvantaged the most. So how do we understand where there are co-benefits from action, but also where there are some challenges, and identifying some of those trade-offs or challenges and the solutions to them.

Another one would be the just transition. We are trying to rapidly transition our energy systems, cities and food systems to tackle the climate crisis. This will mean that there are industries which are going to be declining, just as there are many other industries that are growing. For the declining industries, how do you support workers and communities who’ve been dependent on those industries to identify new opportunities, to diversify the economy and to transition into new jobs? We need to be honest about those [realities] and identify solutions that can help to address those challenges.

ClimateWorks hosts the Funders Table, an invitation-only group for top climate funders. I’ve heard it serves as a helpful forum to coordinate and strategize, as well as criticism that it is a closed space. Will there be changes to how that group is run and held?

Absolutely. One of the things that’s happened under COVID is, because the Funders Table has been held virtually, that’s enabled the team to open up the space to funders, partners, regional regrantors in more parts of the world, smaller funders, etc. There’s actually a much wider participation now in this group, both in terms of the funders coming to the discussions, and also in terms of participation by those in different regions who were previously unable to travel to the meetings.

The next Funders Table meeting is going to be in May. We are going to have a hybrid meeting, so we’re going to have some people in person, but we want to make sure we still realize those benefits of engaging people from across the world and a more diverse group. [The team is] trying to do that in a way where you have both the deep discussions, but also have this ability to engage a much more diverse group. That’s going to be exciting to see. It’s a clear priority.

MacKenzie Scott’s most recent round of climate grants went largely to groups that prioritize participatory grantmaking. Do you think that will have an impact on the wider field?

I very much hope so. We’re looking at how we can do a more participatory approach—and also support the broader community to understand the benefits and the ways to do a participatory approach. It’s so essential as we look at uplifting communities working on racial and social justice: approaches that are multi-year, core operating support. ClimateWorks also tries to provide non-financial support to our grantees: guidance, advice, brainstorming, administrative support. How we do that with a much more participatory approach is going to be essential, particularly as we try to tackle those twin challenges of climate and social justice. We’re excited about that, and keen to continue learning, developing and supporting the field.

Another IPCC report has just come out about the climate threat. What lessons should foundations take?

One that’s absolutely clear is the huge urgency of the challenge. The window for action is closing. The impacts are already being felt in every single continent around the world. Most communities are impacted one way or another—some really devastatingly so. The window for what we’re able to do to keep emissions under 1.5 degrees Celsius is really rapidly narrowing. There are no longer any pathways left that keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius that don’t include, for example, carbon dioxide removal. So we’re going to need to use that.

What’s clear from this report is that we need to use every tool in our arsenal. We need to get a lot more money out the door much more urgently—and in a way that is radically collaborative. There’s no time for sharp elbows and competing with each other. This is about how we work together to target the big opportunities, which are multiple. But we need to move quickly.

It cannot be that, as a community, we just tackle one issue—just the energy system—or we use only one sort of approach—[e.g.] data and research. It’s got to be this multi-prong approach. Some of which is going to be slower-moving, but we must start now. Some of that is movement-building on the ground. We’re seeing a lot of that in various countries and regions, more and more focus on sub-national action. While there needs to be a lot of action at the federal or national level, to make this durable, people need to understand why it will benefit them, what they can do and how to move forward.

You relocated to the Bay Area for the job. What do you make of your new surroundings?

I’m actually doing the awful thing of being bi-coastal at the moment, which is dreadful in terms of air miles. I’m really looking forward to having a high-speed train across the U.S. I have a son in 11th grade in D.C.—and he’s really enjoying and doing well in school for once, so we’re not moving him yet.

I have to say I’m loving San Francisco. And so are my kids and husband when they’ve visited. It’s such a beautiful city. I have the joy of staying in an apartment in—I guess it’s called SOMA South Beach—so I walk to and from the office along the Embarcadero. I have these stunning views each morning and each evening—and take far too many photos of the evening sunset on the Bay Bridge. I send them home to my family, who are like, “You know we’re in the cold and ice?” [Laughs] “Sorry, but it’s gorgeous here.” I’m really enjoying it.

Featured