Effective Altruism for the Climate

As an ‘effective altruist’, what should you do about climate change? ‘Let’s Fund’, an organization that abides by the principles of Effective Altruism, figured it out. By far the most promising (but underfunded) climate policy is investment in technological innovation. After “hundreds hours of research”, Let’s Fund calculated that the most effective way to donate to combat climate change is the Clean Energy Innovation program at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, DC. So, if you want to support this program, you can donate via their Facebook page.*

 

In my opinion, donating to this program will have a much bigger impact on the climate than any lifestyle changes you may consider. Remember that greenhouse emissions are cumulative, and that energy demands in developing countries will continue to increase dramatically for the foreseeable future. Either we solve this climate problem through technological innovation, or we won’t solve it at all.