UK foundations driving progress on climate action in 2025

15 June 2026

Zaichen Mallace-Lu, ACF practice manager, explores the latest reporting from the Funder Commitment on Climate Change and the key trends shaping climate action across UK philanthropy.

Six years on from the launch of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change (FCCC), which provided a framework for UK charitable foundations to take action on climate change, the latest reporting shows a sector that is continuing to move forward while staying true to their individual missions. Across the UK, signatories are building climate into what they do and how they work, even amid rising demand, limited capacity and wider uncertainty.

This year, 105 foundations reported on their progress for 2025, out of 134 current signatories. Together, their responses suggest that climate action in philanthropy is becoming more practical, more embedded and more ambitious. Progress is not uniform, and some areas remain harder than others, but the overall picture is one of steady movement forward.

Critical moments for climate – and for philanthropy

This progress matters because the wider context is increasingly complex, fragmented and contested. Global carbon emissions may be beginning to plateau, but they remain at dangerously high levels. Climate policy across the world is evolving unevenly. And in the UK, recent independent assessment warns that the country was built for a climate that no longer exists.

Against that backdrop, foundations can play an important role: backing system-wide change, supporting communities, and helping to sustain momentum even when conditions are challenging. The latest FCCC data shows foundations are doing exactly that.

Headline findings from 2025

98% of signatories say that signing the FCCC has impacted their foundation’s awareness and action on climate change, with 44% saying it has impacted “quite a lot” or “tremendously”, up from 23% last year
93 signatories had also taken part in the reporting last year (for 2024). Of those, 68 (73%) foundations had advanced their self-rating in at least one pillar
This year, the highest ever proportion of respondents reported they have “made some progress” or are “at an advanced stage”, with 99% doing so in at least one pillar and averaging 73% across the FCCC pillars.

Findings across the FCCC pillars

Signatories to the FCCC have committed to acting on climate change across the five pillars below, and to report each year on their progress.

1. Educate and learn:

84% of respondents “made some progress” or are “at an advanced stage”.
Learning is becoming deeper and more connected. Peer learning and funder networks, such as those convened by UK Community Foundations, Impatience Earth or the Environmental Funders Network, are a major source of knowledge exchange. Foundations are also learning through grantees and partners, and using this to inform programme design and future strategy.

The Badur Foundation: “Staff regularly attend network meetings and site visits to projects and partner organisations, to learn more about the work ‘on the ground’ and environmental challenges facing grassroots organisations.”

2. Committing resources:

80% of respondents “made some progress” or are “at an advanced stage”.
Foundations are increasingly connecting climate funding to their core missions, as well as through dedicated climate programmes. Support to applicants and grantees is also widening beyond funding, including technical assistance, learning and development, and wider collaboration.
Funding partnerships, such as the Roots and Routes Fund (Blagrave Trust, Co-op Foundation, Energy Saving Trust Foundation, OVO Foundation, Impatience Earth) and Energy Efficiency Fund (The Linbury Trust, The Headley Trust, The Wolfson Foundation) are helping foundations work together to pool resources and scale impact.

Community Foundation for Staffordshire & Shropshire: "...established a dedicated endowment to advance environmental sustainability and address climate change, with a particular emphasis on supporting local organisations in former industrial areas in the north of the county… Complementing these efforts, we offer small grants to enable organisations to enhance their climate-related activities.”

3. Integrating climate into programmes and processes:

61% have “made some progress” or are “at an advanced stage”.
While still one of the more challenging pillars, particularly for newer signatories, momentum is being maintained. Foundations are embedding climate into governance and strategy, through committees, board reporting, and strategic review processes. Many are updating their grant-making processes and improving systems for more routine tracking and understanding of impact.

Foundation Scotland: “...significantly strengthened Salesforce capabilities to better integrate climate considerations into grant-making… allows us to track not only grants with an explicit climate focus… but also those where climate is a secondary, supporting or intersecting theme. This provides a more accurate and fuller picture of how climate action connects with other priorities.”

4. Stewarding investments for a post-carbon future:

56% have “made some progress” or are “at an advanced stage”. (A number of signatories don’t hold investments, so there is a higher percentage of “no action taken” compared to other pillars).
Many foundations are acting through revised investment policies, manager reviews and changes, and mandates given to investment managers. Approaches vary – some are excluding fossil fuels, some are divesting, and others are using responsible or impact investment approaches. Several also point to carbon intensity, portfolio footprinting, and comparing against external benchmarks.

DWF Foundation: “We have engaged with our investment advisers to improve understanding of how climate and environmental factors are reflected within investment strategy and decision‑making, while also building trustee awareness and confidence around climate risk and sustainable finance.”

5. Decarbonising operations:

83% have “made some progress” or are “at and advanced stage”.
This pillar saw the greatest year-on-year change, largely propelled by advancements at the 20 trusts associated with the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Foundations are taking practical steps, in their built environment and energy, through to everyday operations and procurement, such as travel, food, minimising waste, and recycling. Remote or hybrid working are seen by many as a key way of reducing carbon footprint.
Better data and measurement of carbon footprint is seen as an important enabler, with signatories undertaking more detailed tracking and conducting audits.

The Waterloo Foundation: “We have extensively reviewed our own operations to ensure we minimise our impact on the environment. Part of this has been committing to the principles of the Size of Wales deforestation free business scheme.”

The above is just a snapshot. For more, dive into the reporting data and further analysis.

A growing movement and an open invitation

The Funder Commitment on Climate Change shows what’s possible when funders act together. What started in 2019 as a call to action is now a community of over 130 UK foundations, and has inspired a global Philanthropy for Climate movement of more than 960 foundations.

Taken together, this year’s reporting shows more than examples of practice. It shows a sector that is learning and collaborating. A sector in which collective effort is driving momentum and helping to turn climate ambition into practical change. But there is more still to do.

The FCCC provides a clear and simple framework for funders to begin or deepen their climate action, with supportive resources and a community of peers and shared learning.

To find out more or join the Commitment, get in touch: [email protected].