Climate and environmental justice

The Foundation recognises that climate change is the defining challenge of our time, and that the health of our planet directly influences human wellbeing. As the landmark International Court of Justice advisory opinion confirmed in July 2025, climate change is not just an environmental crisis but a matter of justice, rights, and international law.

Climate change is increasingly seen as an injustice multiplier, with disproportionate impacts on women, young people and marginalised communities within the Commonwealth’s small states. Climate-related displacement, food and water insecurity, loss of livelihoods, and loss of ocean life and biodiversity are identified as escalating threats to wellbeing and democratic participation. The climate crisis is a fundamental threat to human health, exacerbating inequalities in access to basic services and increasing risk of disease.

Access to climate finance and energy resources remains unequal: civil society in affected countries is increasingly under-resourced and yet widely seen as leaders of community responses to the challenges and risks of the climate crisis. It is often those least responsible for environmental destruction, particularly small island nations and vulnerable communities, who bear the heaviest burden.

Our response will prioritise strengthening and amplifying the voices of grassroots civil society as central agents of climate and environmental justice. We aim to support the development of stronger global frameworks, enhanced governance capacity, efforts to access climate finance and improved technological solutions to address urgent climate and environmental challenges and to promote a just, clean energy transition. This includes investing in grassroots organisations and community driven solutions that are at the forefront of climate action, ensuring those most affected by environmental change have resources, agency and platforms to shape the responses that impact their lives. Sustainable solutions require greater accountability and shared responsibilities among member countries, international funders, and investors, to assist grassroots actors in shaping migration and mobility conditions for displaced communities, while ensuring equitable access to basic services.

We will leverage our unique position as a connector and convener to facilitate knowledge sharing among civil society, particularly where climate-accelerated displacement, conflict, and inequality intersect. We will utilise the Foundation’s intergovernmental position to bring together public and private sector actors to mobilise catalytic funding for climate-related issues, particularly those affecting Indigenous Peoples and other marginalised communities across the Commonwealth.

The Foundation will continue to prioritise climate and environmental justice through our grants and creative programmes, supporting organisations and individuals who champion initiatives that promote ecological sustainability and social equity. We will encourage collaboration across borders and sectors to advance collective efforts to address environmental challenges sustainably and equitably. We will promote localised knowledge and indigenous environmental practices as an integral part of Commonwealth cultural identity, offering insights at a global scale to influence sustainable practices and environmental policies. We will work with a range of grassroots civil society, including indigenous communities to facilitate knowledge exchange, promote best practice and enhance collective adaptive capacities on a wide range of issues such as sustainable land use, biodiversity conservation and resilience in the face of climate change.