Climate groups including the WWF and the the Carbon Tracker Initiative have accepted £175 million in donations from charity Quadrature Climate Foundation (QCF), which is linked to fossil fuel investments.
QCF was set up by multibillion-pound investment fund Quadrature Capital, which has stakes worth more than £135 million in 45 fossil fuel companies.
An investigation by the Guardian discovered that climate groups including the European Climate Foundation, the Carbon Tracker Initiative and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have received millions of pounds in grants over the past two years from Quadrature Climate Foundation.
The grants, worth a total of approximately £175 million, were awarded to 45 green groups during 2021 and 2022. Some £4m was given to the European Climate Foundation, more than £3m to the WWF and £2.7m to the Carbon Tracker Initiative.
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A spokesperson for QCF said the climate group expects to increase funding substantially over the coming years, as it focuses on “unlocking the most urgent climate solutions that can help society address the new climate reality”.
“Climate change is already pushing many parts of the world beyond critical temperature tipping points, with uncertain and potentially severe consequences particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable countries,” they added.
“Since 2019, Quadrature Climate Foundation has deployed over £200 million to almost 150 climate organisations. The foundation expects to increase funding substantially over the coming years, focused on unlocking the most urgent climate solutions that can help society address the new climate reality.”
Mark Campanale, founder and director of the Carbon Tracker Initiative said: “We are aware Quadrature Capital’s investment strategy (separate to the foundation) is based on algorithmic trading, ie the stocks are constantly turned over using complex trading models and are not actively picked or held long term.
“We believe in transparency and the names of our funders are published in our annual report on our website.”
A spokesperson for WWF said the charity would be looking into the matter further.
