U.S. and the Americas

Throughout the Americas, The Rockefeller Foundation is focused on finding equitable climate solutions.

Why? Excessive heat kills 56,000 people per year in the Americas, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). A child born in the Americas in 2020 experiences 1.3 times more fires, 2 times more droughts, 2.5 times loss of crops, and 4.5 times more heat waves than those born in 1960.

Climate transformations are underway, but too many BIPOC people cannot access or benefit from these improvements. In the United States alone, reports suggest Blacks are 23 percent and Latinos and Hispanics 43 percent more likely to live where work hours are expected to be lost due to intense heat.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of 41 million people, according to the United Nations — but the region is also endowed with valuable natural assets that position it to play a significant role in the global green transition. With the announcement of a new Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean coming to Colombia in 2025, we are more committed than ever to advancing the global climate transition.

Why it Matters

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Americans have been lifted above the poverty level by earned income tax credit and child tax credit
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of U.S. community solar projects include low-income houses
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higher energy burden is faced by U.S. Black households, and 20 percent higher by Hispanic households, compared with white households