From Brazil to Nepal: How The Global South House Is Advancing a New Climate Finance Architecture

From São Paulo to Nepal, via New York, Montreal, Portugal, and Türkiye, we will carry a shared message: addressing the climate crisis requires a finance architecture that directs more resources, power, and decision-making to the organizations and communities working directly on the ground.

Our participation in these spaces goes beyond institutional presence. We seek to strengthen alliances, deepen dialogue with funders, civil society organizations, governments, and international institutions, and help ensure that Global South socio-environmental justice funds are recognized as strategic partners in advancing a just climate transition.

The journey has already begun. In early August, we took part in São Paulo Climate Week, where we explored what a climate finance architecture centered on socio-environmental justice could look like. Bringing together insights from member organizations, research, and critical perspectives, contributions from the 40 people who attended — representing philanthropy, civil society organizations, academia, social enterprises, investors, and consultancies — highlighted the importance of listening and long-term support, flexible and core funding, policy advocacy, diversity in governance, accountability across the public and private sectors, and network-based approaches. As part of the Climate Week Network, the week of events sought to connect Brazil’s climate debate with major international climate agendas, strengthening connections also built during London Climate Action Week, in which we participated in June.

In September, on the 17th, as spring approaches in the Southern Hemisphere, Comuá Network, one of the organizations that make up The Global South House, will celebrate its journey at the Philanthropy and Democracy Festival. The event will also provide an opportunity to introduce The Global South House to strategic partners, sharing results, lessons learned, and perspectives for future action. The gathering will strengthen connections among organizations, independent funds, and partner organizations, consolidating a collective narrative about the role of Global South funds in transforming the architecture of climate finance and strengthening locally led solutions.

As spring arrives in the South, autumn in the Northern Hemisphere will bring The Global South House into one of the world’s leading climate forums through the participation of Juliana Tinoco, Executive Coordinator of the Socio-environmental Alliance of Southern Funds, and Jonathas Azevedo, from Comuá Network, at New York Climate Week, from September 20 to 27. They will take part in events alongside strategic partners to influence global debates on climate finance, strengthen alliances with philanthropies, governments, and international organizations, and increase recognition of Global South socio-environmental justice funds as essential actors in a just climate transition. The New York event brings together more than 100,000 people annually across more than 1,000 events throughout the city, bringing global leaders and communities together. This year, its pillars are energy, impact, and collective action.

Heading further north across the Americas, we arrive in Montreal, Canada, where the WINGS Forum will take place from September 28 to 30. The Global South House will host its own event as part of one of the global philanthropy sector’s key gatherings, focusing on the need for a new architecture for financing climate, nature, and people. We will be joined by major partners including Human Rights Funders Network, GAGGA, Prospera, Proximate Press, Casa Fund, Fundo Semillas, Youth Climate Justice Fund, and ELAS+ Doar para Transformar. This year’s Forum theme is ACT, emphasizing the urgency for philanthropy to move from intention to action in response to the challenges we face today.

In November, The Global South House will arrive in Europe, with a presence in Albufeira, southern Portugal, from November 2 to 6. At Opportunity Collaboration (OC), we will seek to significantly expand our capacity for international engagement, bringing together the largest delegation ever mobilized by the initiative outside COP30. The strong presence of people connected to The Global South House demonstrates its growing reach and broad connections with global funders, organizations, and leaders, creating opportunities to consolidate new partnerships capable of advancing direct funding for community-led solutions across the Global South. OC is “a global network of leaders dedicated to building sustainable solutions to poverty and injustice” that holds an annual gathering focused on building alliances for social impact among participating organizations.

Moving toward Asia, COP31 will take place from November 9 to 20 in Antalya, on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast. There, we will build on the policy advocacy initiated at COP30, bringing the case for a fairer, more legitimate, and more inclusive financial architecture to the center of climate negotiations. The Global South House will work to increase recognition of socio-environmental justice funds as strategic mechanisms for connecting resources with communities already leading solutions to the climate crisis, while influencing international agendas, partnerships, and commitments.

The year will come to a close surrounded by the Himalayan mountains, with the #ShiftThePower Global Summit, taking place from December 2 to 4 in Kathmandu, Nepal. There, we will strengthen coalition-building among Global South organizations and deepen our partnership with the #ShiftThePower movement, one of The Global South House’s key allies. This strategic moment for consolidating South-South relationships will foster the exchange of experiences among community leaders and philanthropic networks and advance a collective agenda advocating for the redistribution of power, resources, and decision-making to organizations and communities working on the ground — fully aligned with The Global South House’s vision.

Each of these gatherings represents an opportunity to strengthen the message that guides our work: transforming finance for climate, nature, and people is not only about mobilizing greater volumes of resources. It is also about changing how those resources flow, who makes decisions, and who leads solutions. This is the transformation we will continue to champion in every space for dialogue over the coming months.

The Global South House