Deforested land beside a river, illustrating the environmental cost of unsustainable development. Strategic capital deployment can help reverse these trends by funding nature-based solutions and promoting resilient land use practices.

Climate and Environment

Climate Finance and Innovation

Despite growing urgency, the need for new strategies and models to accelerate climate capital deployment and advance economic resilience remains paramount. As a trusted nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, the Milken Institute convenes local, national, and global leaders who direct investment capital and philanthropy into high-impact climate solutions and high-need areas, ensuring that funding flows to where it is needed most, in ways that are sustainable, scalable, and adaptable to shifting global and regional dynamics.

Key activity areas that we are working on to accelerate climate and sustainability outcomes include critical minerals, climate debt, effective climate narrative, and philanthropic innovation.

In the lead-up to COP30 in Brazil, the Institute is advancing climate initiatives in São Paulo this November with a two-day event focused on sustainability, climate finance, and investment. Through a series of curated public and private sessions, we will bring together regional and global stakeholders to elevate community and investor priorities, mobilize capital, and help shape a more inclusive and investment-ready agenda for COP30 and beyond. Looking beyond Brazil, the Institute is deepening its engagement with fellow asset owners and investors to accelerate climate capital deployment.

Accelerating Capital Deployment for Scalable Climate Impact

The Milken Institute connects the dots between investors and philanthropists who direct funding where it is needed most, driving transformation at scale.

Innovating Financial Models to Bridge the Climate Investment Gap

The Milken Institute develops new, strategic, data-driven mechanisms to close the climate finance gap, ensuring capital flows efficiently and effectively to high-impact solutions.

Designing Solutions for Food Systems Resilience, Nutrition, and Sustainability

The Milken Institute mobilizes action and innovation to transform food systems, ensuring they are resilient, nutritious, and sustainable, while driving economic and environmental stability.

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Featured Content

Priorities for Strategic Climate and Environmental Philanthropy
Climate disasters—including intensified droughts, wildfires, storms, and flooding—are on the rise globally, with cascading negative impacts on communities and ecosystems.
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Despite Significant Challenges & Economic Anxiety, Business Leaders and Americans Align Around New Strategies to Offset Risk According to New Milken Institute-Harris Poll
U.S. business leaders and Americans alike are confronting significant geo-economic challenges, according to a new Milken Institute-Harris Poll report, “Building A Resilient America: The New Consensus for Action.”
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Investing In Climate Futures: Trends and Opportunities In Green
Milken Institute’s Dan Carol, Senior Director of Finance, joined Techonomy Climate West to explore green finance trends in a conversation with Jim McCann, Chairman of Worth Media Group.
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Recalibrating Climate Finance 2025-2035
The race to decarbonize the global economy depends on the success of efforts to unlock and mobilize trillions of dollars to finance climate mitigation and adaptation, especially for the countries and populations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Learn more about the high-impact climate deployment strategies we are recommending for the next decade.
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How Philanthropy Can Build Resilient Food Supply Chains
From the COVID-19 pandemic to geopolitical conflicts, and catastrophic steering failures on cargo ships, as reported by NPR and The New York Times, the world has seen how a weak link in a supply chain can have far-reaching consequences for businesses and livelihoods, restricting consumer access to everything from food staples to essential manufacturing components.
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