Environmental Defense Fund: Grantee Spotlight (Q3 2026)

The Giving Green Fund is awarding a restricted grant to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to support a senior hire focused on strengthening governance for responsible solar radiation modification (SRM) research. EDF is a major U.S.-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group with a global footprint.

EDF’s work falls within our philanthropic strategy of advancing solar radiation modification (SRM) governance and research and, more specifically, within our sub-strategies of opening political pathways for SRM research by engaging key stakeholders and building research governance and coordination infrastructure. We recognize the significant uncertainties surrounding SRM and believe we should consider its (non-)deployment carefully and inclusively. The complexity and interconnectedness of Earth’s natural systems make it difficult to predict how SRM effects would manifest and how much we could mitigate them. Please see Giving Green’s strategy report for more information, including potential risks and co-benefits, recommended sub-strategies, theory of change, funding need, and key uncertainties.

Last updated: September 2026

What Is the Environmental Defense Fund?

EDF is a U.S.-based environmental advocacy group that applies science, economics, and law to environmental problems. Its programs span the energy transition, people and nature, and healthy communities. EDF pairs in-house scientific and economic analysis with policy advocacy, litigation, convening, and direct funding of external research. It has offices in Belgium, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the U.K., and the U.S. It has staff in more than 30 countries and self-reports having more than 3.5 million members.

EDF’s engagement with SRM dates to 2010, when it co-founded the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative (SRMGI) with the Royal Society and The World Academy of Sciences. SRMGI later became the Degrees Initiative, a nonprofit that funds SRM research in low- and middle-income countries to ensure informed representation in global conversations. EDF runs a policy-relevant SRM research program on the impacts of stratospheric aerosol injection on ecosystems, agriculture, and water availability.

What Are We Funding, and How Could It Help Address Climate Change?

SRM is a set of hypothetical climate interventions that would cool the planet by reflecting sunlight and reducing the energy the Earth absorbs. Decisions about whether to deploy SRM would carry profound consequences, whatever the outcome. Ensuring those decisions are informed by robust evidence, transparent governance, and meaningful public participation is therefore in the public interest. We think the governance and research infrastructure built now will shape how future societies evaluate SRM, and whether any future decisions are made in ways that serve rather than disadvantage climate-vulnerable populations.

We are supporting EDF in hiring a full-time Director of SRM Policy and Governance to help EDF continue building and strengthening that infrastructure, as well as the frameworks and norms a legitimate decision would depend on. The director would run four connected workstreams:

1. Global South civil society: coordinating and expanding a Global South-centered initiative of environmental, health, and adaptation-focused NGOs
2. Multilateral processes: carrying the coalition’s positions and EDF’s scientific analysis into multilateral fora where SRM norms are currently forming
3. Research-policy coordination: working through mechanisms such as the Solar Geoengineering Research Governance Platform to build practical two-way channels between researchers and policymakers on research priorities, disclosure, and communication of uncertainty
4. U.S. policy: selectively engaging in efforts to protect federal climate and Earth-system research capacity

A central risk of SRM research is moral hazard: the risk that policymakers and other actors treat SRM as a substitute for mitigation rather than a last-resort tool. EDF reported that it treats moral hazard as one of the most important governance questions associated with SRM. More than 97% of EDF’s budget goes to mitigation and adaptation, and its SRM-related communications and research consistently pair SRM with the case for rapid emissions reductions, rather than treating SRM as a standalone fix. Looking ahead, the director role will also focus on developing governance frameworks, funding arrangements, and deployment criteria specifically designed to preserve incentives for ambitious mitigation. We think these practices reduce the risk that EDF’s work is read as a reason to deprioritize mitigation.

Why Do We Think The Environmental Defense Fund Will Use This Funding Well?

EDF has a longer track record in SRM governance and research than almost any environmental organization. Its historic track record includes convening, with its partners, 45 environmental leaders from 33 countries in 2014 to examine transparency, inclusion, and governance in SRM research. More recently, EDF made its first round of SRM research grants in 2026, supporting nine one-year projects on the impacts of stratospheric aerosol injection on crop yields, rainfall, freshwater ecosystems, and water availability, using satellite and ground-based data. We believe our grant is additional because other institutional funders support EDF’s SRM research, while this grant funds a governance and policy role that does not currently exist.

We publish grant spotlights to offer transparency to Giving Green Fund donors and resources for those interested in the impact strategies each grant supports. Giving Green believes our Top Climate Nonprofits have the greatest impact potential for large, unrestricted gifts. For several reasons, we also disburse and recommend grants to other organizations surfaced through our research process for work that we believe is at least as impactful as grants to our top recommendations. 

‍

This is a non-partisan analysis (study or research) and is provided for educational purposes.

‍

EDF is a registered nonprofit in the U.S. EDF has 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entities. As Giving Green is itself a charitable, tax-exempt organization, we are only offering an opinion on the charitable activities of EDF’s 501(c)(3) arm.