2013 Annual report: Toward sustainability: Helping communities engage with and protect the environment

Our new program plan also points to a refreshed focus in our support related to development finance. As emerging economies such as Brazil and China are becoming donor countries, and as their national banks are becoming major lenders for developing countries, Mott’s goal of transforming development finance is more salient than ever. We will fund organizations working to shape international investment in ways that support sustainable development and economic opportunity, especially in poor communities, and reduce harm to the environment. Our environmental grant making will move forward with an exciting new focus – advancing climate change solutions.

Research suggests that, by 2099, rising annual temperatures could make summers in our home state of Michigan more akin to those in present-day Oklahoma. If this were to occur, it would have significant implications for virtually every aspect of life in the state. The health of native ecosystems, especially those dependent on cold water rivers and streams, would be threatened. Water levels of the Great Lakes, which are so vital to the region’s quality of life and economic well-being, could change – possibly in dramatic and unpredictable ways.

Every continent, country and community around the world faces its own unique challenges as our climate continues to evolve. Some might be tempted to discount the impacts as being far into the future, pointing to other pressing concerns that need immediate attention. The Mott Foundation seeks to help address many of those concerns, poverty, education and citizen participation, to name a few – through our environment and other grant making programs. But the global community cannot set aside the environmental challenges that coincide with our changing climate and expect to deal with them later. Instead, we must collectively ramp up our responses to their signs, symptoms and underlying causes. Waiting to take action will simply pass along problems to our children.

Publisher: Mott Foundation
Year of Publication: 2013
Download : 20062_ar2013.pdf