Philanthropic grant organisation Open Society Foundations will commit $400-million over eight years to support the development of green industrial policies that contribute to economic growth in the Global South, significantly scaling up its support of economic development.

The new Economic and Climate Prosperity programme will fund efforts in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia to promote policies that advance economic prosperity for all, while addressing climate change challenges.

The work would include supporting civil society organisations and independent economic think tanks working on policy issues in countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Senegal and South Africa. The first grants were expected to be made later this year, the organisation said this week.

“The current economic system is failing developing countries. It stops them from being able to grow economically and fight climate change at the same time. We need new ideas to create fairer, more just societies. That's why Open Society is committing $400-million to help achieve this goal,” commented Open Society Foundations president Binaifer Nowrojee.

The initiative would support green and equitable economic agendas that aimed to create jobs and reduce inequalities in developing countries. It would also explore the impact of international taxation and financing on developing countries’ investment in green initiatives, she added.

“Developing countries are constrained by top-down international systems that enforce climate change agendas at the expense of prosperity. We will encourage and promote new models of green economic growth that are shaped by the Global South,” said Open Society Foundations Economic and Climate Prosperity programme director Laura Carvalho.

The Economic and Climate Prosperity programme will foster new approaches to address the developmental challenges posed by the reliance on fossil fuels and land use, as well as the opportunities to move up the value chain through the use of critical minerals and the transition to new green sectors.

Meanwhile, this is the first major new programme to be announced following a two-year organisational transformation at Open Society that was completed earlier this year.

Open Society’s first commitment using its new funding approach was also one of its largest and aimed to support sustainable and equitable economic policies in the Global South, Carvalho noted.

The programme builds on Open Society’s previous work. Open Society has a long history of supporting economic and social rights, such as the right to housing, healthcare, education and food, alongside its commitment to civil and political rights.

“It is a recognition that economic failures and inequities pose a direct threat to the political conditions needed for open and democratic societies to thrive,” the organisation said.

Further, Open Society’s previous work has included advocating for a more just system of global economic governance and fairer international taxation, and funding economic consultancy and advisory services.

The new programme represented a significant, more focused, expansion of this work, reflecting both the deepening economic and political challenges facing lower- and middle-income countries, and the urgency posed by the need to reconcile climate transition and socioeconomic development, the organisation said.