Big Bets Fellowships/

The Big Bets Fellowship:
Climate

Emerging leaders implementing solutions to address climate change

A Transformational Fellowship for a Sustainable Future

As part of our overall commitment to invest $1 billion to advance opportunity and reverse the climate crisis, we established an annual Fellowship to equip leaders with the mindset and skills needed to advance climate solutions with breakthrough potential.

Each year, we select a diverse and interdisciplinary cohort of emerging leaders who are working to reverse the climate crisis and accelerate opportunity for the most vulnerable. In 2024, our Fellowship included leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2025, we are looking for leaders and their climate solutions in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Centering Asia-Pacific

The Asia-Pacific cohort will encompass solutions to reverse the climate crisis in countries located in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

Home to over half of the world’s population, the Asia-Pacific region represents a nexus of immense climate challenges and transformative opportunities. It boasts vast renewable energy potential and critical ecosystems, including glaciers, coral reefs, mangroves, peatlands, and tropical forests. These ecosystems not only preserve biodiversity but also provide sustenance to hundreds of millions of people — and they face urgent threats from unsustainable development practices. The region’s rapid urbanization, high dependency on fossil fuels, and escalating climate impacts endanger lives, infrastructure, and livelihoods. Particularly vulnerable are women, youth, and Indigenous communities, who face severe risks from climate inaction, costly adaptations to rising sea levels, escalating health crises linked to environmental degradation, and declining agricultural productivity.

The Big Bets Fellowship: Climate | Asia-Pacific will empower leaders across sectors to tackle climate challenges in the region head-on, fostering the development of sustainable solutions, resilient communities, and policies to advance solutions that are good for people and the planet.

Program Dates:

  • Onboarding Call: June 5th
  • In-person Convening at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bangkok Office: June 25th-26th
  • In-person Convening at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center: August 4th-8th
  • Amplification Moment at The Rockefeller Foundation’s headquarters in New York City: week of September 22nd
  • Final Call: October 17th

Most reasonable travel expenses for participation in the in-person convenings will be covered by The Rockefeller Foundation. The Fellowship does not cover medical care or insurance. The Applicant should take out adequate insurance to cover their trips and stays in the United States, Thailand, and Europe.

While the Foundation will cover most reasonable expenses related to the visa application process, it is the fellow’s responsibility to secure the necessary visas ahead of traveling. Failure to obtain the visa or inability to attend the convenings may result in forfeiture of the Fellowship.

Fellow Selection Criteria

There is no standard candidate for the Fellowship, but the following characteristics describe the individuals that we believe would be a good fit for the program:

  • 5-15 years of work experience
  • Has a unique perspective and fresh insight on a problem area that is informed by lived and/or professional experience
  • Track record of delivering meaningful change within their unique cultural context and region
  • Well-placed within a local, regional, or global community/network where the fellow can influence relevant levers of change for their project
  • Collaborative and community-driven
  • Has courage to challenge the status quo
  • Applicants must also be members of the Big Bets community to be eligible to apply for the Fellowship

Meet Last Year's Fellows
Project Selection Criteria

A Big Bet is a concerted effort to fundamentally solve a single, pressing problem in your community or our world.

We are particularly interested in solutions that address the following areas (but are not limited to):

  • Accelerating the transition to renewable energy that can reduce carbon emissions, expand energy access in underserved areas, and empower people who live in energy poverty OR
  • Advancing innovations to better prevent, predict, detect, and respond to diseases outbreaks caused or worsened by climate change, ensuring vulnerable populations can lead healthier lives OR
  • Unlocking finance for underserved communities battered by climate change and critical ecosystems that benefit these communities while fostering a more equitable global economic system OR
  • Transforming food and health systems to result in health and/or environmental benefits for communities, with a focus on equitable and inclusive transitions OR
  • Developing gender-inclusive systems and frameworks to mitigate and/or adapt to a changing climate OR
  • Investing in nature-based solutions, such as large-scale ecosystem preservation and restoration, sustainable forestry, regenerative agriculture, and marine conservation, to align economic development for underserved communities with ecological preservation and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities leadership OR
  • Developing climate-resilient infrastructure, including smart cities, heatwave and flood defenses, sustainable transportation systems, and climate adaptive housing and health systems, to meet the demands of growing populations in underserved communities while reducing vulnerabilities.

To learn more about the program, eligibility criteria and focus areas, please check out the Big Bets Fellowship: Climate | Asia-Pacific Terms and Conditions.

Read the Terms and Conditions
Application Dates:

  • Application Launch – January 28th, 2025
  • Deadline for fellows to complete the Eligibility Form and Pre-Application Form – February 9th, 2025
  • Finalists invited to submit Full Application Form and sign-up for interview – early March
  • Deadline for fellows to complete the Full-Application Form – March 23rd, 2025
  • Interviews – March 24th to April 4th, 2025
  • Fellows selected – mid May

  • The work of these fellows flips the script: the Global South is not just a hotspot for climate change challenges, but a powerhouse for innovative solutions.
    Nathalia Arcencio De Marchi dos Santos
    Manager, Convenings and Networks
    The Rockefeller Foundation

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