The Rockefeller Foundation announced its return to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) after a two-decade absence. The foundation will open a new regional office in Colombia in 2025, marking a renewed commitment to the region and its people. This move comes as part of a larger global initiative to invest over USD 1 billion over the next five years to advance the global climate transition and ensure everyone can participate in it.
The Rockefeller Foundation will work closely with regional leaders, local stakeholders, and partners to implement innovative climate solutions and advance human opportunity across the region. The foundation plans to appoint a new Vice President to lead the regional office and build its presence in Colombia.
The announcement was made at a significant event in Bogotá, Colombia, co-hosted by The Rockefeller Foundation, the Compaz Foundation, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Colombia. The event, titled “People, Nature, and Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean,” showcased several grantees of The Rockefeller Foundation and featured speeches from prominent figures including former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Mayor of Bogotá Carlos Galán, and Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia Susana Muhamad.
Juan Manuel Santos, who served as President of Colombia from 2010-2018 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, emphasized the urgent need to support the region’s leaders in catalyzing a period of green and inclusive growth. He stressed that this is essential not only to improve development but also to save the planet.
Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, highlighted the foundation’s proud history of supporting the most vulnerable in LAC. He expressed the foundation’s commitment to re-establishing its presence in the region and continuing to support those working to mitigate the climate crisis and advance human opportunity.
The announcement comes as LAC is poised to host several major global climate events in the coming year. This includes the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) in Colombia, the G20 summit in Brazil, and the United Nations Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30), which will return to the region for the fifth time in 30 years when Brazil hosts the international climate meeting in November 2025.
LAC, with a population of 669 million across 33 diverse countries, is particularly vulnerable to climate change due to its geographic location, persistent inequality, and reliance on climate-sensitive economic activities. According to the United Nations, climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of 41 million people in the region.
The region is already experiencing the devastating effects of climate change, including extreme weather events, mega-droughts, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, rising sea levels, and deforestation. Despite these challenges, LAC possesses valuable natural assets that position it to play a significant role in the global green transition, including an estimated 50% of the world’s biodiversity and a significant share of critical minerals.
The Rockefeller Foundation has a long history of investing in the region, dating back to the late 1930s when it established its first LAC office. The foundation’s focus during that period was on improving health and agriculture sectors, developing rural communities, and establishing universities. While the physical presence ended in the early 2000s, the foundation’s investments continued, encompassing projects across ten countries: Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s commitment to the region is reflected in its recent initiatives, including:
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Launching the Big Bets Climate Fellows:
This program supports 16 leaders with projects based in Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, and Puerto Rico who are developing solutions to reverse the climate crisis and accelerate opportunities across the region, with a particular focus on the Amazon Basin.*
Investing in native species reforestation through The Amazon Reforestation Fund:
The Rockefeller Foundation has provided catalytic capital to support Mombak, a Brazilian carbon removal startup, in its $100 million Amazon reforestation strategy. This effort, aiming to become one of the largest biodiverse reforestation efforts for carbon removal in the region, has attracted investments from Microsoft Corp. and the World Bank.*
Strengthening food security and regenerative agricultural solutions:
The Rockefeller Foundation has provided grant funding to Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de la Ciencia (FUNDAEC) to promote locally-centered agroecology to address food insecurity in impoverished Colombian communities. The foundation also supports the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in its research on regenerative agricultural practices on farms in Mexico.*
Protecting the health of the most vulnerable:
The Rockefeller Foundation is supporting community-driven solutions to address the health impacts of climate change. This includes integrating best practices from both traditional and Western medicine in frontline communities in the Amazon Basin. The foundation is also conducting economic research to understand the cost of climate-health threats to small island states, including Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.*
Engaging the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO):
The Rockefeller Foundation is working with PAHO to advance knowledge and capacity building of LAC health professionals and institutions to address climate change.*
Supporting the G20 Brazil Presidency:
The Rockefeller Foundation has commissioned a report on the potential benefits of debt swaps for health to address urgent health priorities, supporting the G20 Brazil Presidency’s efforts to advance climate and health finance.*
Scaling access to environmental monitoring technologies:
The Rockefeller Foundation’s grant to Earth Genome is expanding access to environmental monitoring technologies for indigenous communities around the world, including Brazil, empowering them to protect their local environments and manage their natural heritage.*
Supporting an adaptive cities solution framework:
With an initial focus on Santiago, Chile, The Rockefeller Foundation is supporting an adaptive cities solution framework driven by Dalberg Catalyst, aiming to enhance urban centers’ capacity to respond to climate challenges such as extreme heat. The framework integrates data and utilizes open digital twin technology.*
Building a diversified portfolio of high-quality nature-based solutions:
The Rockefeller Foundation, along with other partners, has granted funding to The Nature Conservancy’s Natural Climate Solutions Accelerator. This initiative provides technical and financial support to projects, including approximately 25% with exposure to Latin America.*
Advancing the Bridgetown Initiative:
The Rockefeller Foundation collaborated with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on the Bridgetown Initiative, a bold set of reforms to the global finance system aimed at enabling more and better funding for development and climate needs.*
Supporting rural energy access and the energy transition:
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), co-founded with the IKEA Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund in 2021, is investing in meshgrids to electrify Haiti and partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to expand rural energy access and promote the energy transition in Latin America.The new LAC office, approved by The Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Trustees in June, will initially concentrate on four key areas to maximize its impact in the region:
* Leveraging regional intelligence and local expertise to support solution development and execution.
* Sourcing regional opportunities where the foundation can play a unique role.
* Strengthening existing relationships and forging new connections to deepen understanding of regional climate priorities and policies.
* Convening regional events and promoting collaboration for climate and social impact.
The new office will also expand the foundation’s capacity to deliver impact at scale alongside its existing offices in New York, NY, Washington, DC, Bangkok, Thailand, Nairobi, Kenya, and a conference center in Bellagio, Italy.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s return to Latin America signifies a renewed commitment to the region and a recognition of its vital role in addressing the global climate crisis. The foundation’s focus on innovative climate solutions, sustainable development, and human opportunity promises to bring positive change to the region and contribute to a more equitable and sustainable future for all.
