EGN NEWS DESK
Alex Honnold is not any stranger to challenges. Most famously, in 2017, he turned the one particular person to have climbed Yosemite National Park’s 3,000-foot vertical rock formation, El Capitan, with out ropes or harnesses, a feat chronicled within the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo.
Last summer season, Honnold accomplished one other spectacular feat: the primary ascent of Ingmikortilaq, a 3,750-foot rock face in Greenland, close to the Arctic Circle. That climb was a part of an expedition to assemble important knowledge on the influence of local weather change within the area. Honnold was accompanied by glaciologist Heïdi Sevestre, who collected ice and rock samples for analysis on ice soften and glacier loss. The journey was documented in Arctic Ascent, a National Geographic collection that follows the group as they discover a number of the most distant landscapes on Earth.
Leading a scientific expedition could also be a new flip for Honnold in his a long time of mountain climbing, however he’s lengthy been involved about local weather change. He took an curiosity in environmental nonfiction early on — Bill McKibben’s 2010 e book Eaarth notably resonated with him. “I keep in mind that concept sticking with me — that in my lifetime, what I consider as Earth will now not be the identical,” he says, referring to local weather impacts equivalent to worsening wildfires, droughts and storms.
In 2012, Honnold made a pledge to direct one-third of his annual earnings to environmental philanthropy by the Honnold Foundation. From the outset, he knew local weather change can be a main focus. “I used to be simply on the lookout for one thing helpful to do on this planet,” he defined throughout a name in January.
But Honnold additionally wished to do one thing that improved individuals’s lives.
On climbing expeditions world wide, he has seen firsthand how lack of entry to electrical energy impacts communities. Globally, round 760 million individuals don’t have entry to electrical energy. According to the International Energy Agency, reaching common entry by 2030 would require a mean annual funding of $30 billion, however present funding falls far wanting that. What’s extra, securing capital to assist energy-access tasks is usually most difficult within the least developed nations and areas, the place the necessity is best.
As he was getting his basis up and operating, Honnold realized that funding small-scale photo voltaic tasks in underserved communities could possibly be a approach to each advance the vitality transition and sort out problems with vitality entry, self-reliance and financial alternative.
I spoke with Honnold in mid-January when he and his spouse, Sanni McCandless, had been anticipating their second youngster at any second (child Alice Summer Honnold was born earlier this month). I caught him throughout his ultimate weeks of labor earlier than taking a while off to look after the brand new child to speak about his mission of increasing entry to photo voltaic vitality across the world.
The Honnold Foundation has flourished over the previous decade. As of 2023, it had six full-time workers and a $3.6 million finances, $2.3 million of which was distributed by direct grants.
“When I began the group, I felt like a large a part of the problem was simply serving to that transition [to clean energy] occur. Now it’s clear that the transition is going on, but it surely’s equally clear that that transition received’t assist many individuals on earth,” says Honnold. “That’s the function for organizations just like the Honnold Foundation — to make it possible for as we transition to a extra environmentally pleasant world, we don’t simply replicate the identical mannequin that’s left so many individuals behind prior to now and that every one people are uplifted equally.”
Each yr, the inspiration evaluates a whole lot of grant proposals, after which selects a handful to fund from throughout the Americas and island nations worldwide. Typical tasks embrace photo voltaic microgrids and off-grid rooftop photo voltaic for houses and neighborhood organizations.
Since 2020, the Honnold Foundation has supported over 70 companions in 27 nations, territories and U.S. Tribal lands. The basis makes a level of providing the funds with out restrictions in order that recipient organizations can make the most of the cash as they see match. This method displays one of many basis’s basic ideas: belief.
As a climber, Honnold realized the significance of belief early on. “You don’t climb with somebody except you belief them 100%…you’re actually entrusting your life to their palms,” he explains. “We principally belief [our partners] to do what’s greatest for his or her communities, which to me appears apparent, however apparently, that’s not how all philanthropy is.”
Honnold’s ease with danger (not a shock in case you’ve ever watched him climb) is one other guideline for the inspiration. “As a climber, you’re used to failing on a regular basis, and in case you’re not failing, you then’re not making an attempt your hardest,” Honnold says. “With philanthropy, it’s a must to be snug with some extent of failure, or else you’re simply not having probably the most influence.”
