Environment

Communities that address climate change directly will be better prepared for the new challenges and uncertainties it introduces. By explicitly factoring climate change into decisions about infrastructure investments, land-use, building codes, public health, and other urban planning issues, urban leaders can make their communities stronger, more equitable and more resilient.

For us, climate resilience means the capacity not just to withstand stresses and shocks but also to prosper under a wide range of climate-influenced circumstances. Resilience in the long term is possible only if society acts quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, thus, avoids the worst impacts of climate change.

Strengthening a community’s resilience requires:

• Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change;
• Planning for the effects of climate change that are underway or anticipated; and
• Fostering social cohesion and inclusion.

Kresge’s work is intended to help urban leaders across the public, private and nonprofit sectors consider a two-part climate question as they make decisions that will shape the form and function of their communities:

• Does a proposed investment, policy, or action have implications – positive or negative – for the severity of climate change?  If negative, what can be done differently to make it climate-positive?
• Do the expected consequences of climate change affect the viability or durability of a proposed investment, policy, or action?  If so, what can be done differently so the effort is both viable and durable in the face of climate change?

With these questions as guides, urban leaders will be positioned to take actions that benefit their communities by both mitigating climate change and preparing for its effects.

Our work also is intended to help urban leaders understand the equity implications of proposed investments, policies and actions so they can make choices that improve opportunity for all community members, particularly those with low incomes and who have been historically underserved.

Climate change has disproportionate effect on people with limited economic resources. We believe it is critical to engage people from historically underrepresented groups in climate-change-related efforts, recognizing the leadership that resides within those communities. We also believe that people with low incomes and communities of color must share in the economic, environmental, and social benefits of clean energy, green infrastructure, and other responses to climate change. 

We aim for our work to be driven by the needs of municipal leaders working on climate resilience and their community-based partners.  We foster locally grounded communities of practice, providing access to supportive technical assistance, applied research, and learning opportunities.

We also support activities to disseminate and bring to scale promising climate-resilience approaches. We endeavor to learn from the work of our grantees and partners and to see those lessons strengthen the emergent climate-resilience field. 

We deploy multiple forms of capital – grants, loans, deposits, equity, and guarantees – to advance our goals.  We are interested in proving out new financing models to bring climate-resilience benefits to low-income communities.

We invest through three focus areas:

BUILDING CAPACITY AND COMMITMENT

We work to build the capacity and commitment of urban leaders across sectors to advance equitable climate resilience.

STRENGTHENING THE EVIDENCE BASE AND DEVELOPING TOOLS

We work to strengthen the evidence base for taking action on climate change, and we develop tools for urban leaders to drive widespread adoption of equitable climate-resilience approaches.

TRANSFORMING KEY URBAN SYSTEMS

We work to transform key urban infrastructure critical to climate resilience, focusing on energy and water systems.

The Environment Program does not accept unsolicited proposals.

We invite projects that:

• Enable people and institutions to work together to address the climate crisis, with an eye toward innovation, problem-solving and informed risk taking.
• Explicitly address racial equity.
• Focus on outcomes.
• Have a tangible impact on policy and practice.
• Work across sectors and disciplines.
• Promote integrated, system-based initiatives.
• Engage and promote the leadership of historically underserved people and communities.
• Closely align with our strategies and have strong potential to bring about positive change.
• Are based and serve populations in the United States.

We do not fund:

• Environmental education programs or the development of curricula.
• The construction or renovation of facilities or individual renewable-energy installations.
• The acquisition of land, other property, or conservation easements for land-conservation purposes.
• The design and planning of environmentally responsible buildings.
• Primary scientific research.
• Research and development of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
• Projects that are local in scope without clear replication potential.
• Projects outside the U.S.

The Environment Program engages with nonprofits and others active on climate resilience issues and makes every effort to be aware of ongoing and emerging initiatives.

We occasionally invite applications for specific initiatives through a request for proposal process. When available, grant opportunities are listed on the Environment Program focus area pages, linked above, and on the Current Funding Opportunities page.

We use a full array of funding and investment tools, including project grants, operating support, planning grants and program-related investments. Program-related investments may take the form of direct loans, guarantees that provide credit support to borrowers, linked deposits, or equity investments. (Learn more about our social investing.)

We also convene partners to learn and lead. When project proposals offer opportunities to advance the goals of multiple Kresge Programs, those teams jointly review and reach a recommendation on funding the proposal.

We announce grant opportunities on our website and through our weekly newsletter. You may be notified of new opportunities by subscribing to our newsletter, or by following @kresgefdn or @kresgenviro on Twitter.