Request for proposals: Just transition mapping

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Mapping organisations and efforts working to deliver just transitions across sectors and geographies

Laudes Foundation, Wallace Global Fund and the Ford Foundation are collaborating to seek a consultant/consultancy to carry out analysis and mapping of efforts working to deliver just transitions across sectors and geographies relevant to the strategies of Laudes Foundation, Wallace Global Fund and the Ford Foundation.

Complete proposals must be submitted to Sarah Ditty (s.ditty@laudesfoundation.org) by Monday, 19^th June 2023, 11:59 BST. Access the full request for proposals here.

1. 1. Introduction

1. Introduction to the mapping and field-building exercise

Many philanthropic foundations support initiatives that focus on just transitions to move our economic systems from being extractive to regenerative. We know that the energy transition is moving at pace and there is a critical need to focus resources on supporting this. At the same time, just transitions are critical for all sectors of the economy and the energy transition, in particular, can help drive these, including in sectors such as apparel, agriculture, construction and building materials.

For the purpose of this project, Laudes Foundation, Wallace Global Fund and the Ford Foundation are interested in initiatives that address societal, economic and industry-specific transitions to bring greenhouse gas emissions within planetary boundaries in a way that is fair to, inclusive of, and in recognition of the differentiated impacts on those most affected, including workers and communities in climate-vulnerable regions.

Through this collaboration, there is an opportunity to support learning that will be useful for philanthropy to intervene in more coherent ways to ensure that swift and just transitions are realised for all – realising and centring the rights of workers and communities. Critical to this is better understanding the field, the efforts that are emerging within it and what is proving effective (where this can be assessed).

This exercise forms one part of a larger programme of work which includes:

1. Phase 1 – Mapping the field and funders:
   1. Map a range of organisations, movements, campaigns, initiatives and policy options that have emerged across our different focus industries and geographies (see section B) with regards to the imperative of just transitions. We are particularly interested in identifying worker-led, community-driven and rights-based approaches and those that work to drive labour rights into climate policy.
   2. Map the full landscape of private foundations and trusts, as well as identify illustrative or strategically significant examples of other types of donors (e.g., government donors, corporate foundations, donor-advised funds, etc.), supporting efforts to advance  just transitions.
   3. Produce a concise primer and summary of trends towards just transitions relevant to our focus sectors and geographies.

2. Phase 2 – Assess opportunities to scale effective strategies and solutions to advance just transitions and build out a community of practice for aligned and collaborative funding:
   1. Convene relevant funders in Q4 2023 to reflect on the results of this field-mapping exercise and discuss the opportunities for alignment and collaboration in support of building the field.
   2. Convene organisations identified in the field-mapping exercise to reflect on the results of the mapping in Q4 2023 or Q1 2024.
   3. Informed by these discussions and additional research and interviews with experts and stakeholders where necessary, produce a detailed assessment of the gaps, opportunities and priorities emerging from the mapping and recommendations for philanthropic support to the field in order to scale effective strategies and solutions.

This request for proposals covers the first phase of work – field and funder mapping. The mapping is to be completed by Monday, 23^rd October 2023, with an initial draft due by Monday, 18^th September 2023.

2. Introduction to Laudes Foundation

Laudes Foundation is an independent foundation, seeking to advance the transition to a just and regenerative economy. We do this by supporting brave action that will inspire and challenge industry to harness its power for good. Action that inspires industry to work collaboratively to create solutions and tools. And action that challenges industry, holding it to account and incentivising change.

Founded in 2020, Laudes Foundation is part of the Brenninkmeijer family enterprise and builds on six generations of entrepreneurship and philanthropy. We are advancing the industry-changing work of C&A Foundation. Learning from these experiences, we work persistently and collaboratively to influence capital and transform industry, starting with the built environment and fashion industries.

Laudes Foundation focuses on six key interventions that contribute to both short- and long-term changes, including accelerating advocacy, strengthening accountability, scaling research and innovation, cultivating movements and alliances, amplifying narratives and redefining value for the good of all.

Laudes Foundation’s Labour Rights programme works to protect and promote workers’ rights, including in the context of just transitions, strengthen workers’ agency and collective action, and advance an inclusive economy through transparency and policy reform.

3. Introduction to Wallace Global Fund

Wallace Global Fund (WGF) supports social movements and aligned organisations that are driving systemic solutions in four areas: democracy, environment, corporate accountability and women’s rights. These programmes are fundamentally aligned and interconnected.

Wallace Global Fund’s programmes support people-powered movements and campaigns with the necessary research and advocacy that can propel them forward to help turn the tide of catastrophic climate trends and catalyse an equitable, just transition for all.

Just Transition engages our work across all programme areas, in the US, globally and in Africa. It requires a commitment to community-led, rights-based strategies (including gender, environmental and economic justice) supported by government interventions and corporate accountability.

Further, we have aligned our investments with our mission and priorities to deepen the impact we can achieve. We believe finance is a crucial lever for social movements and advocacy campaigns to hold corporations accountable for their environmental and social impacts and to strengthen their governance to account for stakeholder interests. As such, WGF has played an historic role in seeding and scaling the global movement driving divestment from fossil fuels and investment in climate solutions that are just and equitable, as well as contributing to the development of the field of gender-lens investing.

2. Introduction to Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is guided by a vision of social justice – a world in which all individuals, communities, and people work toward the protection and full expression of their human rights; are active participants in the decisions that affect them; share equitably in the knowledge, wealth and resources of society; and are free to achieve their full potential. Across eight decades, our mission has been to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation and advance human achievement.

Inequality and climate change are inextricably bound to how natural resources are governed. Who owns, controls and benefits from extracting oil, gas, minerals and forests – particularly from the lands of local and indigenous communities in the Global South – can have a devastating impact on livelihoods and the environment.

Our international programme, Natural Resources and Climate Change (NRCC), works to put the people most affected by climate change and the extraction of natural resources at the center of solutions.

In NRCC, we believe that low income, rural and indigenous communities in the Global South are the best stewards of their land and resources. We also believe that these communities have the right to a say in how the natural resources on their lands should be managed as well as to participate in the benefits that flow from those natural resources.

Our programme works to reduce inequalities related to natural resource management through: 1. Enhancing and protecting the land and collective rights of diverse rural communities and, in this way, contributing to their capacities for self-determination and their contributions to the mitigation of climate change; 2. Fostering transitions towards decarbonised energy systems that are socially and environmentally just and that reduce the inequalities faced by the communities on whose lands energy is produced, and from whose lands the raw materials for energy production have been extracted; 3. Supporting institutions that enhance the accountability of private and public organisations that otherwise exert disproportionate influence over the governance of natural resources, in particular land, forests, minerals and hydrocarbons.

1. 2. Purpose and Scope

As philanthropic foundations working towards systems change, we believe in the need to purposefully support and scale approaches to just transitions as being critical to addressing the dual crises of climate change and inequality.

The main goal of this exercise is to support Laudes Foundation, Wallace Global Fund and the Ford Foundation in the knowledge and understanding of the landscape of movements, campaigns, initiatives and policy options that have emerged across our different focus industries and geographies with regards to the imperative of just transitions. We are particularly interested in rights-based, worker- and community-led approaches, and those that work to drive labour rights into climate policy. The work will span across two core elements:

1. Mapping and summary: We know there is a tremendous amount of energy towards just transitions occurring around the world. However, we want to deepen knowledge of the full scale of the initiatives that are emerging and how they link to our focus industries and/or geographies. We believe a more robust mapping and summary of initiatives will help drive wider philanthropic collaboration and then scale the most effective initiatives.
2. Convening stakeholder discussions, assessment and recommendations:  We would like to understand the relative strengths and challenges of initiatives in support of just transitions. What’s working in the efforts to build deeper constituencies for a rapid and just transition, and to drive industry and policy changes? Where? Why? What’s needed to help these initiatives scale? What initiatives should be prioritised for philanthropic support and why? How can funders align and collaborate to scale effective strategies and solutions to advance worker-led and rights-based just transitions?

Geographical coverage: The regions and countries where Laudes Foundation, Wallace Global Fund and the Ford Foundation focus on grant-making, and thus the geographies most relevant to this mapping exercise, are global platforms, Europe, Asia (specifically Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and India), Africa (through Pan-African and regional networks, for energy access across the continent and with deeper engagement in West Africa and Southern Africa), Latin America (regional networks, Mexico and Central America, Andes region and Brazil, including Pan-Amazonian networks) and other secondary relevant geographies where worker or community-led and rights-based just transition efforts have been successful and could be replicated or lessons drawn upon in our focus geographies.

Industry focus: Laudes Foundation works across three key industries including the built environment, fashion, and finance and capital markets. Wallace Global Fund’s Environment programme and Ford Foundation’s NRCC programme focus on the extractive (including fossil fuels and critical minerals) and renewable energy sectors.