Skoll Foundation

The Change We Seek

We work toward a world where environmental sustainability is an integral part of long-term economic development and growth. We believe that it is in the interest of current and future generations to preserve the earth’s ecological systems, and to grow a global economy that can meet people’s basic needs without destroying the systems upon which life depends. We can do so by planning future development with care, using technology wisely and encouraging political stability in developing nations, where the richest biodiversity often remains.

CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

Water.org brings safe water to those who are without it. It has driven innovations in the way clean-water projects are delivered and financed and developed demand-driven water and sanitation programs, using microfinance. These innovations now serve as a model — so much that Fast Company did a July 2011 cover story on the organization’s work, and actor Matt Damon has led a very high-profile role. Its  WaterCredit has stimulated more than $5 million in capital from commercial banks to fund water and sanitation microloan portfolios.

Water for People partners with communities in developing countries to create sustainable, locally-maintained drinking water solutions and supports market-driven sanitation solutions. It recently developed a new open-source monitoring and evaluation technology called FLOW (Field Level Operations Watch), which leverages Android technology and Google Earth software for tracking the status of water points at least 10 years after implementation.

Gram Vikas works mainly in Orissa, India, to help the poor. Its conviction is that every family must have healthy living practices and an improved quality of life before total development can occur. This model has transformed at least 289 villages and has proven that the rural poor will pay for better sanitation and water.

Ciudad Saludable has transformed waste management in Mexico and South and Central America by establishing garbage systems that are more dependable and less expensive than local governments. Ciudad Saludable has organized more than 1,500 waste collectors, creating jobs and improving living conditions for more than 6 million people. It has two other organizations: Peru Waste Innovation, a consulting firm specializing in solid waste management; and Healthy Cities International (New York), which replicates Ciudad Saludable’s model around the world.

Ceres works with institutional investors who believe that companies should act on climate change because it is best for their shareholders. Its leveraging of financial power on climate helped lead to Texas Utilities’ decision not to build 8 of 11 traditional coal-fired power plants, for example. Its Investor Network on Climate Risk has more than 85 members, with $8 trillion in assets. Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, or BICEP, which now includes 17 companies, have met with 60+ Senate offices. Ceres built the Global Reporting Initiative, which allows companies to disclose what impact they have on their communities and put financial value on that.

HELPING PREVENT DEFORESTATION OF THE AMAZON & FORESTS AROUND THE WORLD

Amazon Conservation Team preserves the cultures of indigenous peoples of the Amazon and empowers them to protect their rainforest homes. In partnership with local indigenous groups, ACT has completed ethnographic and land-use mapping for more than 60 million acres of Amazonian rainforest lands. Doing so has laid the groundwork for the eventual protection of those lands by providing the basis for forest management plans designed by the inhabitants, with 38 million of those acres already better monitored against illegal incursions.

Imazon is the first independent deforestation monitoring system for the Brazilian Amazon, using technical mapping and satellite imagery. The Brazilian government launched a new policy to control illegal deforestation, focusing on “hot spot” deforestation municipalities identified by Imazon. With more than 400 publications, Imazon is one of the most productive research groups in the Amazon. Its deforestation rates are reported monthly, and the Brazilian government is forced to respond to probing questions about what it is doing to stop illegal deforestation.

Gaia Amazonas’ places large areas of Amazon rainforest legally into the hands of the indigenous people. In Colombia, 35 million hectares of Amazon are protected by indigenous territories or national parks. In areas where Gaia Amazonas is most active, 17 indigenous organizations, representing 23,600 people from different ethnic groups, negotiate with government and govern more than 13 million hectares of forest.

Forest Trends expands the value of forests to society, promotes sustainable forest management and conservation by creating market values for ecosystem services, and enhances the livelihoods of people around the forests. The Washington D.C.-based non-profit was created by leaders from conservation organizations, forest products firms, research groups, banks, private investment funds and foundations. The USDA created new Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets as a direct result of Forest Trends’ training of its senior management team for five years. It’s the first time a new USDA office has been created in 30 years.

Telapak shifts Indonesia from illegal logging to community-based logging. It is the first organization in Southeast Asia to help achieve group forestry certification for logging cooperatives. Telapak worked with a community partner NGO to facilitate the first-ever Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) group certification in Southeast Asia. Over the past three years, this single community cooperative has cut 3,000 trees and planted 2 million new ones. The 2,106 members of the cooperative now earn more than three times as much for their wood.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) leads the movement for renewable energy. It began by financing solar energy in India, South Africa and Brazil. ACORE has created a “renewable energy” community, ending a 30-year era of stove-piped, technology-specific RE industries. It has brought together technology companies, financial firms, universities, associations, NGOs and government agencies — all working on wind, solar, hydro, ocean, geothermal and biomass sources of energy.

Barefoot College trains the poor to innovate their way out of poverty in rural areas of Africa, Afghanistan, and India. In 2006, with just $100,000, it trained 10 Afghan women and bought 120 solar units to power five villages in Afghanistan. On the Barefoot campus in India, you can meet women who, only six months earlier, were day laborers and are now practicing dentistry, for example. The Barefoot solar-electrification program saves two million liters of kerosene every year.

Global Footprint Network’s programs influence decision makers to help end ecological overshoot. Six countries have formally adopted the Ecological Footprint as a measure of the sustainability of their economies. Through its work with GFN, the United Arab Emirates has redirected $15 billion into alternative energy and $22 billion into Masdar City, the first carbon-neutral, no-waste community.

BioRegional Development Group delivers practical sustainability solutions through consultancy, education and informing policy. Korea is using its work as a best-practice case study, Chinese Ministers are reviewing the use of its framework, and it made a significant contribution to the planning policy statement for the U.K. government’s eco-towns, which is now being used as best practice by many governments, including Quebec, Mexico and France.

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an independent global organization tackling the problem of overfishing, since more than 50 percent of the world’s marine fish stocks are fully exploited. It recognizes and rewards sustainable fisheries through its certification and eco-labeling program. McDonald’s recently introduced MSC certified white fish in its restaurants throughout Europe; the Filet-o-Fish sandwiches will carry the MSC logo starting in October 2011.

Health Care Without Harm makes the health care industry more environmentally friendly. It’s helped close medical waste incinerators, eliminated mercury medical products, reduce hospital greenhouse gas emissions and bring local and sustainable foods to hospitals.