Transformation Fund
Transformation Fund
Our Objective
The Transformation Fund is an initiative of the Wyss Academy and Fondation Botnar. It promotes a climate contribution approach, encouraging partners to assess their emissions, set reduction pathways, and support activities that benefit the climate, biodiversity, and human well-being.
Figures
The project was launched on August 2, 2025 and is currently in progress.
Summary
The Swiss Transformation Fund is a collaborative funding platform that brings together philanthropic, public, and private partners in Switzerland to take meaningful, accountable, and measurable action on climate, nature, and human well‑being. It builds on the Climate Responsibility Approach by moving beyond traditional carbon offsetting and enabling partners to take responsibility for their own emissions through direct contributions to transformative, science‑based projects aligned with the Paris Agreement.
Rather than compensating emissions through one-to-one carbon certificates, the Fund channels resources into projects that catalyze systemic change — from restoring forests and regenerating landscapes to strengthening community resilience and climate governance. Ideated and designed together with the Fondation Botnar, the fund is hosted and managed under the Wyss Academy for Nature’s robust governance, compliance, and impact framework, offering a trusted and transparent vehicle for collective climate responsibility.
Project Connections
Timeline
Transformation Fund – Ready to Start
Project Update May 4, 2026
Shaping the Transformation Fund together
Project Update February 27, 2026
Refining the path forward for the Transformation Fund
Project Update October 30, 2025
On 30 October 2025, the Wyss Academy for Nature and Fondation Botnar reconvened foundations and partners in Basel for the second Transformation Fund roundtable, building on the momentum of the August co-creation workshop. Participants included both returning and new foundations, reflecting growing interest in a collective, contribution-based approach to climate responsibility. The discussion started with a brief recap of the initiative’s rationale: the Swiss philanthropy sector contributes significantly to positive societal outcomes, yet foundations create a footprint through their operations and financial assets. The fund, therefore, provides a new way to take responsibility for this footprint, not by offsetting, but by contributing to a pooled fund, hosted by the Wyss Academy for Nature. It represents an opportunity for foundations to demonstrate climate responsibility collectively, transparently and in alignment with the Paris Agreement. A central part of the meeting was a narrative refinement exercise, during which participants, including representatives from the Wyss academy and Fondation Botnar, explored tree proposed narratives and created a fourth from scratch. Across all groups, several themes emerged: the importance of emphasizing reduction first, the need for a humble and responsible tone, and the value of positioning the fund as a sector-wide movement rather than a standalone mechanism. Participants favored narratives that balance ambition and clarity, avoid sounding like carbon-offsetting and highlight pooled resources, shared values and transformative potential. This was followed by input from the Wyss Academy on monitoring emissions, and from the New Climate Institute (Carsten Warnecke) on their climate responsibility approach. These inputs reassured that robust frameworks underpin the Fund. Participants engaged in open and constructive discussions, including on eligibility criteria for foundations interested in contributing to the Fund. The workshop also clarified next steps, which includes a third and final roundtable will be hosted by the Wyss Academy in February / early March 2026, with a focus on monitoring and learning. After the official launch of the Transformation Fund, Fondation Botnar will transition from its enabling role to becoming a contributor.
Launching a collective approach to climate responsibility
Project Update October 27, 2025
Team
- Project contact
Project contact
Julia Cunha
Fundraising & Business Development Expert
