Big Bets Climate Fellowship/

Meet the 2024 Big Bets Climate Fellows

In its inaugural year, 16 leaders from Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the United States were selected to advance solutions intended to reverse the climate crisis and accelerate opportunity across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with a focus on the Amazon Basin. The Big Bets Climate Fellowship, which was established as part of The Rockefeller Foundation’s billion-dollar climate strategy, will provide fellows with programming, networking, and professional development opportunities as they work to implement their bold climate solutions effectively and at scale.

Meet the 2024 Big Bets Climate Fellows and read more about their project’s big bet and their intended benefitting regions, below:

  • Visit Xiomara Acevedo Page

    Xiomara Acevedo

    Bring thousands of women to global and local government discussions to improve climate policies.

    Founder and Director, Barranquilla +20

  • Visit Marcela Angel Page

    Marcela Angel

    Prevent landslide deaths through data prediction and community action

    Research Program Director, MIT

  • Visit Lina Ascencio Page

    Lina Ascencio

    Ensure continental renewable energy developments center indigenous input

    Project Coordinator, Yanama Origen y Palabra

  • Visit Luisa Fernanda Bacca Page

    Luisa Fernanda Bacca

    Center Amazonian indigenous experiences in the development of climate governance systems

    Advocacy Advisor, GAIA

  • Visit Erika Berenguer Page

    Erika Berenguer

    Fireproof the Amazon in 25 years to avoid the forest collapse

    Senior Research Associate, Oxford University

  • Visit Mariolga Reyes Cruz Page

    Mariolga Reyes Cruz

    Show the Caribbean what is possible in regenerative farming through accessible land tenure

    Co-founder and Exec Director, FiTiCAS Agroecology Commons

  • Visit Avriel Díaz Page

    Avriel Díaz

    Save lives by predicting the spread of climate-sensitive diseases and securing budgets for adaptation

    President and Co-Founder, Walking Palms Global Health

  • Visit Reinhold Gallmetzer Page

    Reinhold Gallmetzer

    Use data technology, and law to prevent deforestation and protect people

    Founder and Chair, Climate Crime Analysis

  • Visit Carlos Magno Page

    Carlos Magno

    Ensure water rights for equitable adaptation as land gets drier

    Veterinarian, Plataforma Semiaridos

  • Visit Elena Martínez Page

    Elena Martínez

    Prevent biodiversity and livelihood adaptation challenges by harvesting harmful sargassum nearshore

    R&D Director, SOS Carbon

  • Visit Daniela Orofino Page

    Daniela Orofino

    Legally turn 57 million hectares of Brazil’s undesignated public lands into indigenous territories, national parks and conservation units

    Executive Director, Amazonia de Pe’

  • Visit Valmir Ortega Page

    Valmir Ortega

    Scale regenerative agriculture by training farmers and securing buyers of crops

    CEO, Belterra

  • Visit Rodrigo Pacheco Page

    Rodrigo Pacheco

    Create the world’s largest Biodiverse Edible Forest to protect nature, ancestral knowledge and create economic opportunity for local communities to put biodiversity on the plate

    Executive Director and Chef, Bocavaldivia

  • Visit Ricardo Politi Page

    Ricardo Politi

    Increase the economic competitiveness of forests to outcompete the deforestation economy, while promoting community wellbeing and fair benefits sharing

    External Relations Officer, Brazil President, Amazon Investor Coalition

  • Visit Fabiano Thompson Page

    Fabiano Thompson

    Build the world's first Great Amazon Reef biodiversity map to set a foundation for the development of a marine bioeconomy

    Professor and PhD, Thompson Lab

  • Visit Felipe Villela Page

    Felipe Villela

    Nature Equity, a new asset class, that brings nature onto the balance sheet

    Head of LATAM, The Landbanking Group

The 2024 fellowship, which runs from June to November, has a specific focus on the LAC region, where The Rockefeller Foundation has invested for more than 100 years. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the LAC region has experienced extreme weather including mega-drought, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, rising sea levels, and deforestation. In response, the fellows will work on a range of unique solutions to address the region’s climate challenges, prioritizing undeserved communities who face disproportionately heightened risks from climate change.

The program will bring the fellows together in Sao Paulo, Brazil; at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy; and its New York City headquarters during the Climate Week NYC 2024. These key touchpoints will offer opportunities for intensive collaboration, skill-building, and networking, to help advance fellows’ bold climate solutions. The fellowship is structured around a custom curriculum designed by IDEO, the design firm known for its work on The Earthshot Prize.

Back to Top