Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

Overview

The Giving Green Fund plans to award a restricted grant to the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) for its campaign to stop “environmental dumping” of new inefficient cooling equipment. IGSD is a US-based nonprofit focused on slowing near-term warming as quickly as possible.

IGSD falls within our philanthropic strategy of supporting an energy transition in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Please see Giving Green’s deep dive report for more information, including risks and potential co-benefits, recommended sub-strategies, theory of change, funding need, and key uncertainties.

Last updated: October 2024

What is IGSD?

IGSD is a US-based nonprofit, founded in 2003, focused on “fast-action” climate mitigation. It targets reductions in non-CO2 greenhouse gases that have shorter lifetimes than CO2 and much higher global warming potential (GWP). Often referred to as “climate super pollutants”, they include methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), black carbon soot, tropospheric ozone, and longer-lived nitrous oxide. IGSD’s approach to fast mitigation includes science, technology, law and policy, as well as climate finance. IGSD works at the international, regional, national, and subnational levels.

What are we funding at IGSD, and how could it help reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Obsolete cooling equipment can increase greenhouse gas emissions by leaking HFCs and using too much energy. This is a concern as demand for cooling grows, especially in emerging economies with high potential for air conditioning (AC) sales growth.

IGSD, in collaboration with partner organizations, works to prevent the dumping of cheap but energy-inefficient ACs and other cooling equipment that use ozone-depleting and climate-warming refrigerants in climate-vulnerable LMICs. Dumped cooling equipment is typically prohibited from the market in the country that ships or markets the cooling products to countries that have yet to prohibit such imports, or do not have the capacity to protect themselves from such imports

IGSD has monitored and reported on multinational companies exporting or marketing energy-inefficient cooling equipment to other countries and develops expert information that guides policymakers and their advisors on tools and strategies to prevent dumping. In addition to reducing HFCs, we think IGSD’s work can help promote the use of more efficient units by reducing the market share of inefficient, climate-harmful units, which would mitigate emissions from the electrical grid compared to the counterfactual. This would also help low- and middle-income countries access affordable, next-generation technology that will provide safe, efficient, and reliable cooling for many years to come.

IGSD plans to use extra funding to support its stop dumping campaign. This could include organizing two Stop-Dumping workshops that convene stop-dumping champions from Africa, Southeast Asia, Island States, and Central Asia to share knowledge and strategies. The funding would also allow IGSD to build on past work, update data in key regions, and conduct deeper research into the causes of environmental dumping for more effective solutions.

Why do we think IGSD will use this funding well?

We think the success of IGSD’s Stop-Dumping campaign depends on its proven track record. Since 2018 IGSD has helped define the dumping problem, develop solutions, and recruit and train partners to ensure the campaign expands, endures, and delivers real change for climate-vulnerable LMICs undergoing energy transition. Our impression is that IGSD has cultivated strong relationships, which boosts its chances of success. For example, IGSD has partnered with key stakeholders including country partners, CLASP, the Climate & Clean Air Coalition, the United Nations Environment Programme, and others to ensure the program endures and expands.. We think that with additional funding to support its stop-dumping campaign, IGSD can expand this work to other geographies.

For more on the difference between the grantees of the Giving Green Fund and our Top Nonprofits, please see this blog post on the Giving Green Fund. This is a non-partisan analysis (study or research) and is provided for educational purposes.