News

Ahead of the Paris conference on climate change, The New York Times created an interactive feature to explain how pledges by countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will affect global temperatures. “The Climate Change Pledges Are In. Will They Fix Anything?” used data and scenarios from a simulation model built by RBF grantee Climate Interactive.

RBF President Stephen Heintz spoke about the Fund's experiences around its divestment and impact investment process during a panel discussion organized by the European Green Party and 350.org.

As part of an ambitious plan to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by 80 percent by 2050, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio formally requested the energy sector to help identify solutions to power the city government’s operations using renewable energy. RBF grantee Architecture 2030 has published a report, Achieving 80x50, which recommends that New York City update its building code to meet high-performance standards on efficiency and integration of renewables.

More than 100 corporations, states, regions, and cities around the world have committed to ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to research published by CDP and The Climate Group, an RBF grantee. At least 40 companies, 13 states and regions, and 74 cities have committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 100 percent, or acquiring 100 percent of their power from renewable sources.

The International Union of Architects unanimously adopted and committed to a plan to phase out all fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions from the buildings industry by 2050. Michael Northrop, director of the Sustainable Development program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, writes that the declaration is a significant step toward reaching a universal, legal climate agreement in 2015.

The University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment has launched a program to promote regional collaboration and information sharing on offshore wind across all sectors. The Special Initiative on Offshore Wind (SIOW) focuses on capitalizing on lessons learned from European clean energy efforts, generating objective analytics and communications on the benefits of offshore wind, and fostering collaboration among the states.

There is reason to be optimistic about climate action, according to Michael Northrop, director of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's Sustainable Development program. In a recent Huffington Post article, Mr. Northrop highlights factors bringing about new opportunities to mitigate climate change.

With the election of New York City's first new mayor in 12 years comes an opportunity to continue engaging the public in discourse that often fades after the ballots are cast. Talking Transition is a nonpartisan effort to empower New Yorkers as Bill de Blasio takes office. Rockefeller Brothers Fund grantees that are participating, include Make the Road New York, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, and The New York Immigration Coalition, among others.

InsideClimate News is this year's Pulitzer Prize winner for National Reporting. Journalists Lisa Song, Elizabeth McGowan, and David Hasemyer were recognized for their coverage of the lasting ecological dangers posed by the million-gallon spill of Canadian tar sands oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River in July 2010. InsideClimate News is the third and smallest online-only news organization to win a Pulitzer.

A recent New York Times article credits 350.org, a Rockefeller Brothers Fund grantee, for playing an instrumental role in the latest national movement of students encouraging their colleges and universities to divest endowment holdings in fossil fuel companies. Bill McKibben, 350.org's founder, has been visiting campuses across the country, speaking to sold-out audiences about sustainable investment initiatives and the effects they could have on climate change.