Opportunity Green: Recommendation

Last updated in November 2023.

Opportunity Green is one of the top climate nonprofits selected by Giving Green in 2023.

Aviation and maritime shipping are challenging sectors to decarbonize and have been historically overlooked by philanthropic efforts. Reducing these sectors’ emissions will require targeted regulation, policies promoting clean, alternative fuels, and industry commitment to purchasing these fuels and transitioning existing fleets. Opportunity Green tackles these interventions through a diversified approach leveraging industry coalitions, policy, and law. It also seeks to identify where there are gaps in law and regulation more broadly and how it can address these gaps to accelerate decarbonization in other sectors, including buildings and steel. We have not assessed this broader work and focused our recommendation on Opportunity Green’s aviation and maritime shipping efforts.

Opportunity Green is a young organization, and it could benefit from additional funding to hire staff to increase capacity across its programs, develop emerging workstreams in new areas such as buildings and steel, and add senior lawyers to its team and/or board to advise on strategy. We are especially excited about Opportunity Green’s efforts to elevate climate-vulnerable countries in policy discussions, as we think this could improve the inclusivity of the process and the ambition level of policies.

For more information, see our deep dive on Opportunity Green, a summary below, and our broader deep dive on decarbonizing aviation and maritime shipping.

What is Opportunity Green? 

Opportunity Green is a UK-based nonprofit focused on the gaps in global climate policy. Founded in 2021, it began with a focus on decarbonizing aviation and maritime shipping via policy, economic, and legal avenues.

How could Opportunity Green help address climate change?

Opportunity Green strives to cut emissions in aviation and maritime shipping by advocating for ambitious regulations; expanding the use of clean alternative fuels; pushing the private sector to adopt greener fleets and fuels; and, in aviation, reducing demand for air travel. 

What does Opportunity Green do?

Opportunity Green’s approach to decarbonizing aviation and maritime shipping invokes three main strategies:

• Facilitating a private-sector coalition to promote clean alternative fuels

• Increasing representation from climate-vulnerable countries in international policy discussions

• Identifying and pursuing strategic legal action

What would Opportunity Green do with your donation?

Opportunity Green is a young organization with a comprehensive strategy and robust plans for growth. Opportunity Green’s leadership values a healthy work culture and would use some additional funds to hold in reserve to ensure employee security. With additional funding, it would hire staff to increase capacity across its aviation and shipping programs, develop emerging workstreams in new areas such as buildings and steel, and add senior lawyers to its team and/or board to advise on strategy.

Why is Giving Green excited about Opportunity Green?

We think Opportunity Green has a strong theory of change that tackles multiple pathways of influence, including coalition and capacity building, policy advocacy, and legal action. 

Donate to Opportunity Green to cut emissions in the skies and seas.

Opportunity Green is a registered charity in the UK. This is a non-partisan analysis (study or research) and is provided for educational purposes.