Good Energies Foundation

Background

Founded in 2007, Good Energies Foundation is an environmental advocacy and grantmaking organization based in Switzerland. ¹ It is a subsidiary of the Swiss-based organizations Porticus and Caring for the Earth, grantmaking initiatives of billionaire Marcel Brenninkmeijer and his family. ⁴

Good Energies Foundation conducts campaigns in support of weather-dependent energy subsidies in India and in support of raising foreign aid to fund environmental energy developments in Sub-Saharan Africa. ² It also conducts campaigns that support forest conservation in the Amazon, Congo, and Indonesia. ³

Grantmaking

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)’s 2022 annual report listed Good Energies Foundation as having donated between $500,000 and $999,999. ⁵

Good Energies Foundation, alongside GET. Invest, funded a 2022 Rockefeller Foundation report titled “Power for All Distributed Renewable Energy Job Report Sees Strong Post-Pandemic Growth” that examined the quality and quantity of jobs in Africa associated with weather-dependent energy following the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the report was to research employment as it argued sufficient “human capital” needs to be deployed by governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to achieve maximum adoption of weather-dependent energy. The report was critical of low labor-force participation by women and argued that increased adoption will lower carbon emissions in remote rural communities. ⁶

In November 2021, it was announced that Good Energies Foundation cosigned a $1.7 billion, 5-year pledge at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), funding conservation efforts and indigenous advocacy. The announcement claimed that the securing of indigenous land rights would result in conservation and would support climate change goals, protect biodiversity, and alleviate “pandemic risks,” referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cosigners of the pledge included the Ford Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Christensen Fund, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Sobrato Philanthropies, Oak Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. It also included the Protecting our Planet Challenge members: Arcadia, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Nia Tero, Rainforest Trust, Re:wild, Rob and Melani Walton Foundation, and the Wyss Foundation. ⁷

One year after the pledge was signed, the Ford Foundation reported that the coalition had expanded to 25 governments and private organizations and that 19 percent of the pledged amount was distributed. It clarified that while the funding was designated for the Indigenous People and “Local Communities” living in tropical rainforests, “most” of the funding went to private environmental groups despite the report finding that Indigenous People were the most effective at preserving biodiversity. In addition to achieving environmental goals of conservation and carbon sequestering, the report advocated conserving biodiverse ecosystems as it claimed such work “helps to prevent encounters with wildlife that can encourage the spillover of potentially dangerous pathogens into human populations.” ⁸

Leadership

As of 2024, Johannes van de Ven was working as the executive director of Good Energies Foundation. He was also the president of the board of World Resources Institute Brazil, a board member of the Arapyau Institute, a board member of the Climate and Land Use Alliance, and an advisory board member of SELCO Solar Light in India. He previously sat on the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Agenda Council on Forests and worked for the Brazilian investment bank Banco Bozano, Simonsen. ⁹