Centring equity and climate justice in Canadian philanthropy: Making the case for incorporating climate justice into environment work

March 2025

As part of our ongoing efforts to deepen our commitment to equity and systems change, the Catherine Donnelly Foundation recently convened a conversation with three leaders from CDF’s Environment and Executive Committees all of whom work at the intersection of environment and justice: Devika Shah, Executive Director at Environment Funders Canada; Sherry Yano, outgoing Director of Grants and Community Engagement at the Real Estate Foundation of BC; and Malkeet Sandhu, Community Organizer with David Suzuki Foundation, who advocates for climate justice with a focus on serving BIPOC communities.

Together, they reflected on why philanthropy must embrace climate justice in our work, what it truly entails, and how funders can begin integrating it meaningfully into their environmental work.

What is climate justice and why should we integrate it into our environmental work?

SHERRY YANO: Climate change – and many of the social inequities we face – stem from the same dominant systems and structures. The data is clear: climate change is a threat multiplier that disproportionately harms those who contributed the least to it. So, if we’re trying to address these big systemic problems, we must address the systems themselves. That means centering equity and justice in how we frame climate work, so our policies and solutions are more systemic, inclusive and effective.

DEVIKA SHAH: I would add that a climate justice lens brings a much-needed focus on adaptation, not just mitigation, which is often what happens when you’re not looking at our work through a climate justice lens. [Climate adaptation refers to acting to minimize the existing impacts of climate change, while mitigation refers to acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent further climate change.]

MALKEET SANDHU: Many grassroots community groups are already working in the justice space, and we would be falling behind if we weren’t working in that space, especially with local youth groups and grassroots groups led by BIPOC organizers. [In 2022, CDF made unsolicited, low-barrier grants to grassroots BIPOC-led and -serving organizations – no application, no reporting required.] Some of those groups later came back to CDF with successful applications for larger funding. That initial outreach helped build trust and relationships. It’s a great example of how small steps can lead to deeper engagement.

Climate justice can also extend beyond education and community action and into legal, policy and legislative work?

SHERRY: If you’re looking through a justice lens, then ultimately what we’re talking about is centering the people who did the least to cause the problem yet are most impacted by it. Often legislative tools are required to proactively advocate for the interests of those groups, because the systems that cause climate change and other intersecting crises, such as housing or food insecurity, don’t work for the very people we’re centering in climate justice. If you look at polling, Canadians are more supportive of policies that [incorporate assistance] for the underserved. Canadians have this inherent wish for equity and justice. So, I think climate justice and policymaking really do go together.

One of the things that makes me proud to be part of the Catherine Donnelley Foundation Board and the Environment Committee is because few funders are focusing on straight-up climate justice and drilling down on it. CDF has managed to make a lot of good decisions in terms of outreach and how we earn the right to work with different and diverse communities.

How can foundations begin to get involved in climate justice work?

DEVIKA: Philanthropic networks exist to support funders wanting to get into different spaces, so through Environment Funders Canada there are entry points such as our Let’s Talk Climate funders interest group, as well as a funder collaborative which is called Building Power for Climate and Nature. Those are two areas where funders are getting more and more comfortable in the climate justice space but there are also several active community-led coalitions.

We often try to keep a wall between funders and the work that’s happening in community, but I think we need to start breaking down those barriers and have a mindset that we’re all in this together and we’re playing different roles to get from point A to point B. So, where funders can ask to join in on community gatherings and coalition meetings to listen and learn and observe and not say anything, that’s probably the best way for funders to figure out what entry points makes sense for the communities they care about, the issues they care about, and the geographies they’re in.

SHERRY: My organization [the Real Estate Foundation of BC] is a member of Environment Funders Canada and we are really excited about the Building Power Collaborative, the Let’s Talk Climate and the other funder interest groups because they bring funders together for peer learning and capacity building. It accelerates learning and there’s something about that collective learning where we can help each other to be bold and work on different concepts together. It helped us start an Indigenous grant stream that’s been running for three years and has granted about $7 million.

There’s so much change happening now and I think one of the things funders can do is to think about how they’re investing to build the resilience of civil society in addition to [advocating for] government action. You must have people that have invested in climate justice movement building. That civil society piece is important to ensure we have the people and infrastructure in place if progressive climate legislation or policies become more difficult to get through with governments. You need that flexibility to go where you can and to have those ongoing relationships.

DEVIKA: Our general approach in the environmental world as well as in the funding community of incrementalism and moderation hasn’t really gotten us anywhere, and so it’s time for some bold approaches and not just for Catherine Donnelly Foundation, but for everybody.

Devika Shah is Executive Director of Environment Funders Canada, a network of 70+ funders working together to respond to environmental crises with ambitious and innovative solutions. https://environmentfunders.ca/

Malkeet Sandhu is a community organizer at the David Suzuki Foundation who advocates for climate justice with a focus on serving BIPOC communities in Peel Region. She has extensive experience in community collaboration, political engagement and working with governments and politicians to preserve and create sustainable and equitable communities. https://davidsuzuki.org/

Sherry Yano is outgoing Director of Grants and Community Engagement at the Real Estate Foundation of BC, where her duties include strengthening local partnerships and leading their grantmaking and community engagement strategies. https://refbc.ca/