May 1, 2017

Our giving pledge

We are remarkably lucky to be in a financial position to allow us to think beyond ourselves and to have been able to do so at a young age. We also come from families who value philanthropy and public service, and we want to thank them for giving us such wonderful examples to follow. We have chosen to make philanthropy an intrinsic part of our lives and have tried to do so in a way that maintains a balance between family life, our careers, and our philanthropic endeavors.

About ten years ago, we began to seriously consider how we should approach philanthropy. We decided that we wanted to create a foundation that would focus on what we felt was the most pressing problem facing the world. At the time, we had young children and were (and remain) deeply worried that the world they will inhabit will be fundamentally compromised due to unchecked greenhouse gas emissions. We also appreciated the long-term benefits associated with moving toward a low carbon economy and determined that this issue needed to be urgently addressed, regardless of politics. As such, our efforts to date have been primarily focused on climate change and clean energy policy in the U.S. and internationally. However, in the decades to come, we accept that the world will change in unpredictable ways, and given this, we feel strongly that our philanthropy should be inherently flexible.

Over time we have learned to appreciate the importance of collaboration in philanthropy. Like most other philanthropic areas, climate change and clean energy policy is profoundly challenging on many levels. While there is clear consensus on the need to act, there are so many actions necessary that no one government, charitable organization, or business can solve the problem alone. Given the sheer scope and myriad of approaches necessary to address climate change, there is a great need for groups to work together and to learn from one another. We recognized this early in our efforts and have tried to foster collaboration within the funder and grantee communities. While many people may think that the Giving Pledge is most valuable for promoting global philanthropy, we consider the role of building more connective tissue within the philanthropic world to be an equally essential purpose.

We have endeavored to be innovative with our philanthropy and to approach the problem from multiple directions. Given our focus on climate and clean energy, this led us to complement our policy work with investments, funded with philanthropic capital, in emerging companies aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Our professional backgrounds in investment management make this approach a natural fit. The scale of the problem clearly requires public policy coupled with market innovation, and we believe that this path will materially speed our low carbon transition and reduce the cost of energy for a rapidly developing world.

We would like to thank Melinda and Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and all of the other Giving Pledge members and team for creating such a vital organization and allowing us to be a part of it. We look forward to joining its ranks and learning from so many extraordinary philanthropists. We would also like to thank all of the people and organizations who have been persistently working on climate and clean energy for so long, many of whom helped us when we began and have continued partnering with us to this day.