Climate Change

Addressing climate change is one of the world’s greatest challenges. And, though humanity has made widespread progress in this area, we are still unlikely to hit the 1.5ºC target specified by the Paris Agreement. The most likely amount of warming we will face is 2.7ºC, according to recent data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a thorough research synthesis from Forethought Foundation Researcher Dr John Halstead. This is enough to disrupt the environment significantly, disproportionately affecting the world’s worst-off countries in numerous ways — natural disasters, agricultural failures, and heat-related excess mortality.

And it could get worse. There’s no guarantee that warming will stick to 2.7ºC or lower — this is a forecast based on current trends. If those trends worsen, there’s a small possibility that humanity could hit a climatological tipping point, leading to more extreme warming from physical feedback loops. Even at 2.7ºC warming, conflict will likely increase, leading to a heightened risk of biological or nuclear war.

One of Longview’s heuristics for identifying effective giving opportunities is “neglectedness.” We look to fund projects that are not yet receiving enough resources, given the greater number of extraordinary opportunities that will have been overlooked. While climate change as a whole is not neglected relative to our other focus areas, it seems likely that some sub-fields of climate policy deserve more attention than they currently receive, and are thus good candidates for strategic philanthropy. These sub-fields include nuclear energy and carbon capture, potentially vital technologies for mitigating climate change long into the future.

Are you a major philanthropist seeking to learn more about these areas? Get in touch with our Co-CEOs Natalie Cargill and Simran Dhaliwal at natalie@longview.org and simran@longview.org.

Clean Air Task Force

Achieving historic climate victories with the US government.

The Clean Air Task Force is a nonprofit that lobbies for power plant regulation and government support of low-carbon technologies. Due to their impressive track record, it’s estimated that every dollar of funding they receive leads to a 1 tonne reduction in carbon emissions. Their work has led to the adoption of tax incentives for carbon capture and storage, restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas production, and regulations on coal plants that lead to the retirement of a significant portion of the US coal fleet.

UT Austin Population Wellbeing Initiative

Researching the understudied risks of climate change.

It would be a mistake to believe that we understand all the potential risks of climate change. One understudied risk is long-term depopulation. Research indicates that climate change could significantly decrease global fertility levels. This could spark a feedback loop of population decline, leading to decreased fertility again. This significant decrease in population might reduce climate risk by decreasing consumption, but it might also increase climate risk by decreasing our economic resources for dealing with the climate catastrophe. The new UT Austin Population Wellbeing Initiative will research this and other understudied demographic consequences of climate change, improving expert understanding and providing potential solutions.

Carbon180

Reversing climate change by promoting the advancement of carbon capture technology.

Carbon180 is a non-partisan think tank that advocates for carbon capture technology by directly educating policymakers and building coalitions of government stakeholders. Their efforts have led to $8 million of government funding being allocated to carbon capture research by the Department of Defense, as well as the creation of tax credits that incentivise carbon capture. It’s estimated that these credits will provoke the sequestering of 49 million tons of carbon per year by 2030.