The Rockefeller Foundation announced recently a $1 million grant to Elemental Excelerator, a leading nonprofit investor in climate technology for deep community impact. Together, The Rockefeller Foundation and Elemental will help fill both the financing and knowledge gap for entrepreneurs bringing critical decarbonization technologies from demonstration to commercial scale in frontline communities in the U.S.
Through this grant, Elemental seeks to demonstrate how philanthropy can help drive an impact that unlocks 10x the investment through follow-on funding from green banks, community development financial institutions, and other private lenders. By deploying a series of catalytic projects in key regions across the country, Elemental will create a bridge for companies seeking to qualify for financing through the EPA’s unprecedented Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and other sources of climate finance.
“Elemental innovates at the edge of the market, deploying new financial products and services to de-risk technology,” said Dawn Lippert, Elemental Excelerator Founder & CEO. “This collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation will enable us to fund more projects that reduce emissions and prioritize benefits for low-wealth, rural and energy transition communities.”
The grant follows The Rockefeller Foundation’s recently announced climate strategy to invest over $1 billion over the next five years to advance the global climate transition. As part of this strategy, $35 million has been allocated for climate grants and investments to accelerate nature-based solutions, decarbonization, and other climate finance solutions aimed at addressing the adverse effects of climate change on vulnerable populations globally.
“This series of projects not only address climate challenges across different systems and sectors – energy, transportation, buildings, water – they also represent the sorts of bold thinking and action required to help everyone in the United States participate in climate transformations needed to avert catastrophe,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “Together, Elemental’s climate projects illustrate a coordinated, synergistic approach to addressing both the technology and opportunity ‘scale gap’.”
Over the next year, Elemental will source, diligence, fund projects, and provide critical wrap-around support as these companies prepare to deploy their technologies across the country. This includes essential pre-development services, such as financial modeling and engineering studies, as well as policy coaching, storytelling, and community engagement support that ensures workforce development, local job creation, and wealth building are prioritized.
“We are deeply impressed with the Elemental platform and the commitment to driving both climate impact and community impact through the deployment and scale of new climate solutions,” said Maria Kozloski, Senior Vice President of Innovative Finance at The Rockefeller Foundation. “We look forward to working with such a high-caliber team to deploy climate solutions at scale and enable a just transition for underserved communities.”
